6 Fat Loss Tips for People Who Work Sedentary Jobs

For many of us, quarantine dramatically reduced the amount of physical activity we were able to perform on a daily basis.

At one point we were literally restricted to confines of our homes, and many of us shifted from working in a traditional office setting to working from our spare bedrooms.

And none of this was our fault.

Unfortunately, our bodies didn't care that it wasn't our fault, and a lot of us put on unwanted body fat due to the reduced amount of daily walking and increased amount of couch-sitting we all did while surfing through every streaming platform known to mankind instead of doing literally anything that would have required us to take an active step out the front door.

But there’s a silver lining.

Now that the evil forces of the “it-who-must-not-be-named” virus of 2020 have mostly been subdued, our freedoms to go here and there and anywhere seem to be reinstated, which means…

Everyone who got pudgy during the pandemic now has the resources they need to improve their body composition.

The only problem?

Some of us are still working highly sedentary remote jobs, which can absolutely be a legitimate obstacle for anyone looking to lose body fat and reveal a harder, leaner physique.

And, of course, this applies to anyone who works a sedentary job whether it’s in-person or remote.

So here are my personal tips for losing body fat if you work from home or sit on your butt elsewhere all day at work.

6 Fat Loss Tips for People Who Work Sedentary Jobs

1. Acknowledge that you're at a BIT OF A disadvantage.

As much as it may stink, the person who walks 15,000 steps per day due to their naturally active lifestyle or vocation (like a construction worker or a landscaper) is going to have an easier time staying lean than the office job guys and gals.

Okay, it stinks.

Now let's move on and quit lamenting an unchanging reality.

If you've got a desk job, you're at a contextual disadvantage, but...

Remember that energy balance always matters most for fat loss.

If that term is new to you, don’t worry.

Energy balance just refers to the laws of thermodynamics that state that you lose weight when you consume fewer calories than you expend. This is the classic “calories in versus calories out” discussion.

So what’s the implication?

You can still lose fat while working a sedentary job, but you’re going to have to be more cautious with your caloric intake than someone whose lifestyle allows them to be more active.

Once you embrace that small disadvantage, you’ll be able to start implementing new habits that fit the specificity of your own unique situation.

2. Get creative about squeezing walks into your day.

Even though plenty of us are working from home now, it’s always an option to be more creative and disciplined when it comes to finding ways to be active.

For example, could you get up early each morning and take a lap or two around the block while listening to a podcast before you settle into your home office?

Is there a Zoom call you need to be "on for" but not visible? Maybe you could walk outside with ear buds while on mute.

Are you a stay-at-home mom? Try to implement family walks and neighborhood adventures to the park a part of the daily routine.

The key is to be creative and solution-oriented when it comes to minimizing the negative effects of a primarily sedentary lifestyle.

3. Come to terms with the reality that your caloric deficit might need to come MOSTLY through a reduction in caloric intake.

Unless you’re able to carve out a ton of time during your day for exercise, it's highly likely that you're going to have to get into a caloric deficit primarily through a reduction in caloric intake instead of an increase in activity.

If you love food, that might not be the most fun in the world, but it might be an unavoidable conclusion if you’re serious about pawning off your spare tire for a slimmer waistline.

On the brighter side, bodybuilders and other physique competitors have been doing this for decades, so can know at the very least that you’re in good (and lean) company.

But what if you really don’t want to reduce your caloric intake?

Firstly, I hear you. I absolutely love eating, so I’ve opted to be the “do more eat more” guy instead of the “do less eat less” guy.

And to this point, remember that you always have the option of adding in more activity in order to eat a bit more food throughout the day.

However, the reality for most people working sedentary jobs is that there just might not be enough time in your day to walk, jog, bike, or row for 45-60 minutes.

Nonetheless, keep in mind that you always have three options when it comes to kickstarting a fat loss effort:

1. Eat fewer calories,

2. Exercise more,

3. Or implement a sneaky combination of both.

In terms of eating fewer calories, you’d probably be best-suited to prioritize lean proteins, voluminous "health foods" like leafy greens, an assortment of unique vegetables and fruits, whole grains, beans, and healthier fats like avocados, nuts, and seeds.

In terms of exercising more, I always encourage people to walk more because it can be done anywhere, it’s free, and it’s easy.

If you wanted to incorporate a bit of both, you could make one of the following example adjustments to get your fat loss journey started:

• Idea 1: “I’m going to set a timer for 20 minutes each morning and walk through my neighborhood during that time. And I’m going to institute a one-plate-and-done rule at dinner. No seconds! Just one well-portioned plate.”

• Idea 2: “I’m going to set an alarm for 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3PM. Each time the alarm goes off, I’m going to walk to the end of the street and back to move my body. And I’m going to swap my two daily sodas for sparkling waters.”

Lastly, this is great time to mention that intermittent fasting can be a powerful strategy for at-home workers.

4. Ditch (or redefine) your snack life.

Arguably the worst temptation of working from home is that your pantry is taunting you from a scalable distance of 20 feet at all times.

So firstly, don't even have that stuff in the house if you really want to set yourself up for success.

Because let’s be honest. It’s unlikely that any of your favorite high-calorie snacks like cheese puffs and Oreos have your top-notch pool bod in mind.

But if you can muster the discipline required to enjoy snacks in moderation, you might consider setting some basic parameters on your snacking habits.

For example, “I don’t snack until 7 PM, but then I allow myself one serving of my snack of choice as a small dessert.”

In most cases, you’ll be able to make room in your diet for one small treat per day like two Oreos or a small bag of Goldfish.

Or you could completely redefine what it means to snack altogether by reaching for apples instead of cookies.

All in all, the key is not to snack mindlessly during the day simply because you’re bored or you happened to walk by the pantry in a moment of weakness.

Snack strategically, and remember that portion control is always important.

5. Push for active hangouts with your friends.

For physique-minded people, it can be discouraging that our most common hangouts in life revolve around foods and drinks that tend to promote caloric overconsumption.

The classic combination?

Pizza and beer.

In an attempt to redirect the narrative a bit, try catching your friends on the front end of a social idea by suggesting an active hangout like walking downtown or going on a hike.

Or maybe you could even invest in a relationship one-on-one simply by having walking dates at a park or anywhere nearby that allows you to get moving.

Better yet? Make it a weekly or biweekly thing.

“On Mondays at 3 PM, I walk with my co-worker Mary around the parking lot for 30 minutes, and every other Friday I walk with an old friend from high school around a nearby lake in the morning before work.”

I've had several clients find both fat loss success and relational meaning in this methodology.

Again, it comes down to being intentional, creative, and disciplined.

6. Experiment with traditional cardio on the incline treadmill or the StairMaster.

I couldn't write an article about this without saying it, but there's no shame in using a machine to help you reach your goals!

If the weather is terrible, don't be Mr. or Mrs. Well It's Raining.

Stop being silly.

Go to the gym and hop on the machine that forces you to walk lest you fall on your face and become a raging, viral TikTok at the expense of your all-but-hardly-remaining dignity.

And if you're really sick and tired of being tubby? Get on the StairMaster.

I actually made an entire video about the StairMaster and how you could leverage it for your fat loss goals, and - spoiler alert - it works if you can survive.

BONUS TIP: CONSIDER HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING OR SOMETHING SIMILAR like crossfit.

Truthfully, I think the best way to combat the negative side effects of working a sedentary job is to start doing CrossFit (or something similar).

But before you write me and my ideas off forever because “CrossFit'“ is a death cult for ego-driven masochists who promote improper technique, let me explain myself.

The beautiful thing about CrossFit is that it forces you to burn a lot of calories in a very short amount of time.

As wonderful as walking is, it takes much longer to burn the same number of calories from walking as it does training in a CrossFit-like manner.

In short, CrossFit is a quick and effective way to burn a lot of calories while placing your body under the stress of heavy loads and unique planes of resistance, which over time leads to increased muscle growth and a more muscular looking physique overall assuming proper overload, diet, and recovery.

More specifically, I think this is particularly good idea for busy people who work sedentary jobs because it ticks both the “lift weights” and “improve your heart health” boxes all in one workout experience.

Plus, most CrossFitters wind up looking pretty jacked over time despite the sport’s focus on fitness over pure aesthetics.

But keep in mind too that you don’t have to do CrossFit to reap these same benefits.

You could adopt a CrossFit-like training style in your own garage with minimal equipment if you’re put off by the price of joining a local CrossFit gym, or you could join a gym with a similar fitness model like Orangetheory.

I just personally think CrossFit (when done well) is superior due to the more advanced weight lifting components than many other gyms fail to incorporate.

Summary

• Working a sedentary job for 40 hours a week does put you at a slight disadvantage when compared to fat loss friends with more active jobs simply due to a lack of caloric expenditure, but…

• Fat loss can always be achieved through a strategic reduction in caloric intake, which means there’s hope for all sedentary workers regardless of how much time you have (or don’t have) to exercise.

• Intermittent fasting can be an excellent dietary strategy for sedentary workers.

• It’s a good idea to eliminate or heavily monitor your snacking habits if you’re looking to lose body fat. Or, start making healthy snacking swaps like trading in your Doritos for clementines.

• When it’s time to hangout with your friends, try to direct your crew toward an active hangout like walking or hiking.

• For those who have the time, don’t be afraid to hit the gym after work just to crank out 15-45 minutes on the incline treadmill or the StairMaster.

• If you’re really looking to combat the negative aspects of a sedentary job, consider joining a CrossFit gym or trying Orangetheory as a time effective way to slash a ton of calories and build strength all at once.

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As always, I really enjoyed writing this article, so if you found it helpful, do me a favor and send it to someone in your life who might be living the desk job life and struggling to keep their weight under control.

Until next time,

-Andrew

How to Tone Your Arms and Flatten Your Stomach

If you know me personally, you know there's one word fitness buzzword that drives me crazier than most, which is...

This idea of "toning."

In this article, I’m going to walk through four things:

1. Why “toning” isn’t really a thing

2. The solution to the “toning” problem

3. How to adjust your efforts accordingly

4. A really helpful summary with practical takeaways

The Awkward Truth about "Toning"

I have bad news.

As far as I am concerned, "toning" isn't really a thing.

But, why?

I think it's because the culturally defined definition of "toning" is something like this - making one or two choice body parts look a little bit leaner without a full-body shift in fat loss reduction.

For example, I will hear a lot of women tell me they want to "tone" their arms.

So what people are really saying when they say they want to "tone" is that they want to spot reduce fat from specific locations on their body. And I will admit, that would be amazing! My goal with this article is not to shame or make fun of anyone who uses the term "toning."

Unfortunately, there really isn't any promising literature that I know of to suggest that “toning” in this sense is possible.

And in my own experience with my own body and as a coach to others, I've never seen anyone successfully spot reduce fat in any meaningful way.

Examples of “Toning” Efforts

Just to be clear about what I mean by that, here are a few examples of how people attempt to "tone":

• Doing lots of crunches because they want more visible abs

• Doing lots of side crunches because they want to ditch their love handles

• Doing lots of arm curls and pushups because they want tighter-looking arms

And I know what you're wondering.

"How does it work then? If I'm insecure about my flabby arms or my love handles, what should I do? Help!"

We'll get to those questions in a second, but I want to briefly address why "toning" as you've likely understood it until this point isn't an effective strategy.

Why "Toning" Isn't Really a Thing

Simply put, the way we all lose and gain body fat is mostly genetically predispositioned, which means we all carry and distribute our total body fat in different ways.

You don't get to choose how your body fat comes off and in what order.

For example, when I am bulked, I am a “love handles and leg fat” guy, but my back and arms tend to stay pretty lean even when overall I'm sitting at a higher body fat percentage.

I definitely didn't choose that!

And what this means in context of "toning" is that no amount of side crunches is going to convince my love handles to go away without being in a caloric deficit.

Without a caloric deficit, it's just not possible to lose meaningful amounts of body fat.

In short, you can't defy the laws of thermodynamics and energy balance through cheat codes like side crunches and bicep curls.

That’s really the punchline of this write-up.

So, if that’s the case, what can we do about it?

The Solution to the “Toning” Problem

Since I don't like to be the guy who just points out problems without providing solutions, I'm happy to tell you that there is a better way!

The way to "tone" is to get leaner overall through getting into a caloric deficit for long enough to allow your body to burn through the excess fat storage that led you to want to "tone" in the first place.

In addition to that, training your muscles for hypertrophy will cause them to grow and thus "push out" on your skin more, which will create that leaner look.

Check out this photo of Matt Morsia.

He's very jacked and very lean and yet I can guarantee you there were no deliberate "toning" efforts going on here.

He simply built a lot of muscle through resistance training and then tailored his caloric intake and activity level to reduce his body fat while maintaining the muscle he had already built.

So ultimately, "toning" is about losing fat while building or maintaining muscle along the way.

Now that we know that, I want to focus on how you can apply this for yourself.

How you would “Tone” if “toning” were a thing

Let's consider a very specific example.

Your arms are flabby and you want them to be leaner. The way to make this happen would be to:

• Firstly, start eating in a modest caloric deficit while prioritizing a diet adequately high in protein.

  • The deficit is what will drive the fat loss that will eventually result in your leaner looking arms.

    • This emphasizes the importance of the “calories in, calories out” (CICO) formula when it comes to body recomposition.

  • And, if you need help figuring out how to calculate your protein intake, check out this article I wrote once upon a time.

• Secondly, walk more. Although it’s impossible to issue a one-size-fits-all recommendation for walking, the idea is to remember that walking can be an extremely powerful fat loss tool.

• Thirdly, in this particular example, you would start training your arms in the 6-20 rep range for probably 10-20 sets as a part of an intelligent training program.

  • Even though you're in a deficit, the stimulus from this kind of exercise might even allow you to build a bit of muscle size to help emphasize your newly "toned" arms.

  • What would be even better?

    • An even better approach would be to train your entire body in the 6-20 rep range to see full body improvements while simply biasing more sets toward your arms because you’d like to see specialized improvement in that area.

      • This is an important distinction because you might be thinking, “Wait, I thought you said you can’t target improvements in specific areas?” I said you can’t target fat reduction in specific areas, but you can send more muscle growth signals to certain body parts than others by training them more.

    • So if you want to grow your arms, train them with more sets than the rest of your body.

  • Note too that this works particularly well for people who have never trained meaningfully with weights before.

    • People in this category are eligible for what we call “noobie gains” in the fitness industry, which means your body is likely to grow new muscle very quickly since you’ve never trained before.

And, for anyone reading this who might want to “lift their butt” or something similar, you would imitate this same strategy by training your glutes, hamstrings, and quads (probably in that order of importance).

Additional Thoughts on “Toning”

FAT LOSS DISTRIBUTION CAN BE FRUSTRATING

One very real and frustrating reality of losing body fat is that the body fat doesn't always come off the way we might want it to.

For example, if you're a woman that is overweight, you might find that you start losing body fat from your feminine attributes like your breasts or even your butt before you start losing body fat from your midsection.

That’s frustrating.

The reality is that there isn't much to be done about that aside from resistance training over many years to help grow your underlying muscle bellies to help emphasize whichever look you might personally find most appealing.

Does that suck? Totally!

Like I mentioned, I myself fall into this category.

But the only way to overcome that is to get your calories in check, train hard, and let your body transform until you’re as lean all over as you need to be to feel aesthetically pleasing.

BUild muscle in the right areas for optimal aesthetics

Sometimes building muscle in the right areas can help make a physique that used to carry fat in the wrong areas appear much “better” aesthetically.

For example, if you're a dude with a big belly at the moment, you might benefit from growing your chest and shoulders because that will make you look less like a pear and more like a strong guy who just needs to cut back on the pizza.

And then you can cut back on the pizza and shift your pear-ness toward a hint of that V-taper most women historically find attractive in men - broad shoulders that "V" downward to a relatively trim waistline.

Or for the ladies, building a strong and shapely foundation of glutes, quads, and hamstrings can create the illusion of a smaller waist.

As polarizing as Greg O’Gallagher (pictured here) can be for some people in the fitness industry, I think he has done one of the best jobs at identifying optimal male physique proportions when it comes to peak aesthetics.

THERE ARE NO SPECIFIC EXERCISES THAT “TONE” YOU

In my opinion, there are no specific forms of exercise that will "tone" you.

This is probably going to offend some people, but pure barre is not going to “tone” you.

That being said, it's totally fine to enjoy a pure barre class for the fitness benefits it offers you!

You'll probably develop a lot of core stability, full body control, and you might even build a tiny bit of muscle if you're transitioning into some form of exercise from a formerly sedentary lifestyle. I just think it would be silly to consider that “toning.”

You still have to control your overall caloric intake in order to lose body fat and reveal your lean tissue even if the extra calorie burn from group fitness efforts help you drop a few quick pounds at the beginning.

SOME PEOPLE LOOK HOT FOR NO REASON

That's called having favorable genetics for body composition, and I say that because it's too easy to see a girl featured in a hot new TikTok or Reel about how to “get toned for summer” and think, "She looks amazing! I should buy her programs so I can look exactly like her."

It's actually very possible that she was already “hot” by twenty-first century standards before she ever wrote her “toning” program, so try not to be naive about situations like that.

In other words, she didn’t use the program she’s advertising herself to get her current physique. And even if she did, there’s no guarantee that your body would respond the same way.

Secondly, have you ever had that one friend or co-worker who just kind of ate whatever they wanted, didn't exercise much, and still looked great? Me too. They exist, and let's not forget that.

Some people look hot for no reason, which means you can’t look to their programs for non-negotiable “toning” success.

How Much "Toning" Did I Do to Achieve the Physique at the Bottom of This Article?

None.

I achieved the physique you see below through a modest caloric surplus for about six months to move from around 200 pounds to 173 pounds.

I supplemented with lots of walking.

I trained mostly in the 6-20 rep range 5-6 times per week for as many sets as I could recover from.

No toning. No pure barre. No hot yoga. No group classes.

Summary

• “Toning” isn’t really a thing in the sense that you can’t spot-reduce fat, but there’s no reason to feel hopeless because…

• You can still achieve what people think of as “toning” by losing fat across your entire body while building muscle through resistance training.

• The ”calories in, calories out” (CICO) equation is still king for fat loss, which means a calorie-controlled diet will be optimal for “toning.”

• Walking is a great way to supplement your “toning” effort.

• Training with 10-20 sets per muscle group primarily in the 6-20 rep range tends to be best for muscle growth, which will help you appear more “toned.”

• It might be a good idea to strategically train certain body parts more than others to create a more aesthetic overall appearance.

  • Men would typically be smart to train their chests, shoulders, and arms.

  • Women would typically be smart to train their glutes, quads, and hamstrings.

• If you need help doing all of this, hiring a body recomposition coach would be a great next step.

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Thanks for reading! I genuinely hope you were able to take something meaningful away from this article.

If you feel like it brought you any value at all, consider sending it to your friend at work who has been doing 100 crunches before bed in preparation for hot girl summer.

See you in another article, friends.

-Andrew

7 Reminders to Keep Things Simple for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

The fitness industry is always buzzing with controversy and confusion, which makes it easy to chase headlines and dabble in new ideas while neglecting the fundamentals. 

In light of that temptation, this article is a quick list of how to keep things simple for the long-run while seeing consistent and encouraging improvements in your body composition.

If you are not doing any of these and your goal is to get that lean yet muscular, hard-body look, you'd be smart to ask yourself, "Do I really have a good reason for making this more complicated?" 

There are often good reasons for complexity, but make sure you challenge them thoroughly before you abandon simplicity. 

And if you’ve stumbled onto this article because you’re brand new to the idea of body recomposition, these seven reminders are the perfect place to start.

7 Reminders to Keep Things Simple for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

1. You need to be getting stronger over time in the main movement patterns to grow muscle.

This is what we call progressive overload.

Transparently, this is probably the one strength training and body recomposition principle I have personally neglected the most, which is a shame considering I’ve given it the number one slot. 

For whatever reason, I have always been more attracted to the pursuit of accumulating increased volume through additional sets over the pursuit of putting more weight on the bar.

And although increasing your work capacity over time can be a powerful driver of muscle growth, most would agree that it should be accompanied by a gradual increase in absolute load over time as well. 

Long story short, keep things simple by focusing on getting meaningfully stronger in some kind of squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, and row pattern over time. 

If you’re looking for specific exercise recommendations within those categories, I would point you to the following:

• Squat: Heel-Elevated Smith Machine Squat to Full Depth

• Hinge: Romanian Deadlift 

• Lunge/Thrust: Reverse Barbell Lunges

• Push: Barbell Bench Press

• Pull: Weighted Pull-Ups

• Row: Barbell Bent Over Rows 

If you were to consistently add weight to all of those movements over the next five years without doing any other exercise, I’d be willing to bet you’d be a very muscular person assuming proper diet and recovery.

This goes for both men and women. 

2. You need to be doing enough challenging sets of mostly 6-20 reps within a few reps of failure to grow muscle consistently over time. 

In other words, you need to make sure you’re training with sufficient volume.

I think 12-20 sets per muscle group per week is the sweet spot for growing muscle consistently over time, but even I can admit that this seems like a large, ambiguous range.

“Well, is it 12 sets or is it 20? And how do I know what’s appropriate for me?”

In my opinion, the best way to identify the “perfect” number of sets to complete per week per body part is to start conservatively low at 10 sets per week and move upward from there as recovery allows. 

For example, if you want to grow your quads, you could split up your weekly quad volume into three different movements. We’ll use the following exercises for this example. 

1. Barbell Back Squat

2. Hack Squat

3. Leg Extensions

Given our goal of distributing 10 sets sensibly across those 3 movements, I might choose to delegate the volume as you see below:

1. Barbell Back Squat (4 sets) on Monday 

2. Hack Squat (3 sets) on Thursday

3. Leg Extensions (3 sets) on Thursday

Without going into too much detail regarding the “why” behind that distribution of set volume, this would be a logical and evidence-based baseline of training if your goal is to grow your quads. 

“So how do you know when it’s appropriate to add more sets?” 

If you can overload your sessions modestly and progressively while clearing nearly all of your muscle soreness by the next time you train your quads each time per week, I think you would be justified to add more sets. 

For example, maybe I find that the 4 sets of Barbell Back Squats on Monday are actually very fatiguing and soreness-inducing to the point that it takes Tuesday and Wednesday to recover fully. In that case, I would not add sets to that Monday session. But if I felt completely recovered by Tuesday evening, I would consider adding a fifth set of Barbell Back Squats the following week.

3. You should probably be eating most of your calories from whole food sources while keeping processed foods to a minimum.

There is no need to make this one more complicated than it needs to be. 

Although you can certainly enjoy “junk foods” and highly-processed treats from time to time, those who consistently see improvements in their physique and overall well-being over the long-term tend to be those who prioritize basic nutrition practices rooted primarily in a whole food diet.

Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, teas, and lean proteins should probably make up the majority of your diet.

Bonus Reminder: I’d also like to throw in a bonus reminder here that you don’t have to eat meat or animal products of any kind to build muscle effectively, which means the “No Meat No Gains” motto from of old doesn’t need to be a guiding principle in your body recomposition journey.

If you’re curious about how to make the transition to a more plant-based life, email me personally at andrewwesleywhite@gmail.com with the subject line “Let’s Chat Plants.”

4. You need to consume an adequate amount of protein. 

To be honest, I've really been challenging the notion of ultra-high protein diets lately, so I think it makes sense for each individual to experiment with what seems to work best for them. 

In the evidence-based body recomposition community, most people agree that eating around 0.7-1g of protein per pound of lean body mass is sufficient to maximize muscle growth outcomes. 

Within that overall daily target, it’s probably a good idea to spread that protein across 3-6 meals depending on your lifestyle, preferences, and how much protein you need to consume to support your goals. 

Making it more complicated than that likely won’t yield any additional benefits. 

What do I do personally?

You can read more about my own plant-based dietary approach during gaining phases here, but I generally eat 3-4 high-protein meals per day with an emphasis on pre-workout and post-workout nutrition.

5. Your caloric consumption needs to match your goal. 

If you're trying to lose fat, you'll need to be in a modest caloric deficit.

If you're looking to build muscle, you'll need to be eating at maintenance (at the very least) or in a modest caloric surplus. 

If your caloric deficit is too aggressive, you risk burnout, unnecessarily decreased performance in the gym, and muscle loss.

If your caloric surplus is too aggressive, you risk gaining too much fat too quickly and reducing the overall productivity of your muscle gain phases. 

It’s that simple. 

If you need help determining those numbers for yourself, I would highly recommend reaching out to us for online coaching.

6. You need to be taking responsibility for your sleep quality. You can only train and grow as hard as you can recover.

It seems like no one in the fitness industry wants to talk about sleep quality because you can’t monetize it as easily as training programs and nutrition plans.

But you need to let your muscles and systems recover in order to introduce increasingly powerful stimuli over time.

Practically speaking, most research that I’ve seen over the years suggests that most people recover near optimally when sleeping between 7-9 hours per night. 

Although this won’t be possible for everyone in every season of life, its importance is certainly worth mentioning so that you can optimize it when possible.

In other words, there’s a big difference between losing sleep because you have a newborn versus losing sleep because you’re out partying or binging Netflix.

7. You can lose all of the fat you want simply by walking. You can make it more complex or intense than that, but you don't have to. 

As sexy as it may be to design a program that has you rowing on Mondays, biking on Tuesdays, swimming on Wednesdays, and sprinting on Thursdays, anything more complicated than a strategic walking plan is unnecessary for fat loss. 

Can you make it more complicated? Absolutely. 

Is there a place for more complicated methodologies for some people? Absolutely.

I’m just highlighting the reality that, if you want to, you can tailor your diet and training in a way that allows you to walk your way to your fat loss goal.

In fact, I wrote an in-depth article about exactly how to leverage walking to your fat loss advantage, so give that a read if you’re interested in learning more.

Conclusion 

How you get the physique of your dreams can be very simple. 

Does that mean it will be easy? Absolutely not. But the principles are simple and most effective when repeated and manipulated strategically over time. 

In fact, if I had to try to put all seven of those statements into one sentence, it would be something like this:

Getting lean and muscular is the result of progressively overloading the main movement patterns of squatting, hinging, pushing, and pulling while strategically manipulating your food selection, overall caloric consumption, and recovery within periodized phases of varied focus over time. 

Screenshot that for the moment you’re tempted to jump ship for Keto 3000 and Johnny Bravo’s latest Arm Blitz Split to add 6 inches to your biceps in 6 weeks.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew

Is the StairMaster the Best Way to Lose Weight?

If there is one thing that is non-negotiably true about the fitness industry, it’s this:

Everyone wants to know the fastest and most effective way to lose fat and get that hard body look.

And, to be fair, that makes good sense considering most of us have never been busier. 

Who has the time to be farting around with their fat loss goals on nonsensically decelerated time frames when we could be spending time with our families, pursuing our up-and-coming side hustle, or even catching up on the most recent Netflix documentary that everyone is buzzing about?

I sure don’t, and I doubt you do either. 

But, you clicked on this article because you’re wondering if the StairMaster is the holy grail of fat loss from which we can all sip in shredded six-pack spendor, so let’s quit wasting time with introductory banter and get into the meat and potatoes of whether or not the dreaded stairs can help you carve out the statue-esque physique of your dreams. 

Now, rather than directly answering the question of whether or not you should do the StairMaster to lose weight, I’m going to pitch you four reasons you could be on the StairMaster and how they could impact your body recomposition goal.

The Only 4 Reasons You Should Ever Be on the StairMaster

1. You're Using It to Burn Calories for Fat Loss

Make no mistake about it, walking on the StairMaster can burn you a ton of calories in a short amount of time, which makes it an excellent choice for busy people who just don't have a ton of time to spend on their fat loss goals. 

And, this takes the number one slot on my list because it's by far the best and most logical reason - in my opinion - to be putting yourself through such torture.

So when I see people on the stairs, I assume it's time to get shredded, which means you have a focused fat loss goal that’s being done in tandem with a focused fat loss diet. 

Or, for people who really know what they're doing, getting on the stairs a few times per week can be a great way to stay lean while keeping your calories higher. 

I respect that 100%, and generally I assume that's what people are doing when I see "fit" people on the stairs. 

For a bit of practical application, I want to reiterate that I would always recommend using the StairMaster in combination with a calorically-controlled diet.

For example, if you’re a 110-pound female with a ferocious hankering for a Chipotle burrito who has to drop calories beneath 1200 to continue chipping away at the fat loss you want, you might consider assisting your deficit through the StairMaster 2-3 times per week for 15-45 minutes per session depending on the intensity.

Although I personally would always opt for more flat walking or incline treadmill work due to its minimal impact on overall recovery, the StairMaster is certainly a more time efficient way of burning a few extra calories than either of those options.

Keep in mind, however, that there literally isn’t a single person on the planet who needs the StairMaster to lose body fat and achieve the look they want.

It’s simply one tool of many that can be used strategically in context of your overall plan! Always remember that. 

2. You Might Be Training for a Hiking Trip, But I Doubt It

This isn't going to be very many people, but I have known a few people who were training for a hiking trip and used the stairs to prepare themselves for the hills. 

Let's be honest though, that's not going to be many people, and I would estimate that less than 1% of people on the stairs in the cardio section are training for a big hike.

At the same time, this is technically a legitimate reason to be on the StairMaster, so I thought it was worth including even though hiking protocols typically have nothing to do with a focused body recomposition effort. 

3. You Want to Improve Your Cardiovascular Fitness

Although this seems like a nutty reason to me since so many other things could achieve a very similar result, you could use the StairMaster for general heart health.

But you could also walk or jog or row or even do weight lifting circuits to keep your heart health on point, so I personally think the stairs are an unnecessarily brutal choice if you're just a noble soul looking to stay healthy.

That being said, good for you if this is your perspective on health! There is zero judgement coming from me. I see you and I celebrate you.

In fact, I have a medal of honor and nobility sitting on my desk for you at IVRY headquarters. Feel free to pick that up anytime between the hours of 9-5PM Monday through Friday.

But again, this has nothing to do with a focused body recomposition effort, and you could easily have a healthy heart while rocking a dad bod. 

The StairMaster is not an automatic one-way ticket to Shredzville or Peach Town.

4. You Enjoy It! 

Preference is always a fine reason to do something in the gym as long as you're doing it safely.

If you like the StairMaster, cheers! 

But stay away from me because I don't personally trust you.

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Okay, so those were the four main reasons I think you should ever really be on the StairMaster outside from silly reasons like you’re looking for a reason to talk to the cute girl who happens to be on the StairMaster next to you.

But I’m not going to leave it there.

Now, it’s time to expose three simple reasons you really shouldn’t be using the StairMaster.

3 Reasons Not To Be Using the StairMaster?

1. You Think It's Going to Plump Up Your Peach

Using the StairMaster is not how you get a big, muscular butt. 

I fear that a lot of people slaving away on the stairs are doing so because they saw some fit Instagram model doing it and they're envious of her rump.

Don't do that. 

Big butts are built mostly through heavy compound movements like deadlifting, squatting, lunging, and hinging for hypertrophy when paired with a high-protein diet that can actually build the muscle you want.

So let me say this one last time, if you see a chick on the StairMaster with a bum you’d be eager to sport yourself, remember that she did not build it on the stairs - even if she’s kicking her legs back with every step like a bad YouTube ad. 

Big butts are either the product of genetics or heavy resistance training.

If anything, the StairMaster might even be working against your glute gains! 

Why? Because muscle growth seems to occur when your glutes are trained within a few reps of muscular failure with a load that allows for 6-20 reps per set in most cases.  

So answer me this.

Do you want a bigger butt?

Or do you want an “endurance butt?”

The last time I checked, walking on the stairs is technically like doing thousands and thousands of supoptimal reps that never push your glutes to within a few reps of failure.

Do you see my point? 

The classic illustration of this idea in the fitness industry is the comparison of physiques between sprinters or “explosive athletes” and longer distance athletes.

To be fair, they always exaggerate the juiciness of the sprinters while making the long distance runners look like they’re on their deathbeds, but in general I think the point is well-supported.

FATIGUE BUILD-UP and the interference effect

And, one final point I want to make while we’re here is this…

Being on the StairMaster will create an immense amount of fatigue build-up in your legs. Some even call this the interference effect.

Think about it.

If getting a bigger butt is about training with loads that allow you get within a few reps of failure in the 6-20 rep range, but your legs are too tired from your time on the StairMaster to create the stimulus you need from your weight training, your butt is not going to grow optimally.

Can you see how you’d really be shooting yourself in the foot? Or should I say the butt? 

So the take-home point is this: If plumping up your peach is your main goal, train your glutes with heavy weights for 10-20 hard sets per week in the 6-20 rep range, tailor your calories and protein according to your goal, and stay away from the StairMaster.

2. You Think It's Going to Give You That Hard, Lean Look

Although riding the stairs can absolutely burn body fat like crazy when paired with a calorie-controlled diet, it's not going to give you that "hot" look all by itself unless you already have plenty of muscle hiding underneath your chub. 

And even then you might be risking a bit of muscle loss without a high-protein diet.

For example, if you're a former athlete and you used to have a lean look, you might be able to get away with hammering away on the stairs to reveal your lean tissue because, in some sense, you already put in the work years ago.

But if you're in that "skinny fat" category - or maybe if you're just overweight in general without much muscle mass underneath - slaving away on the stairs is just going to deflate you.

If your chubby self was a succulent grape, you’re now on the fast track to looking like your pointer finger after being in the hot tub for two hours.  

You'll lose weight! That's for sure. But you won't look the way you want to look. 

You’ll just have traded one unimpressive look for another - the only difference being a few pounds on the scale, which I doubt will capture the attention of your friends and family.

Think about it through the lens of my “family summer weekend at the lake” analogy.

MY Family Summer Weekend at the Lake Analogy

I am a Missouri person, which means one big aspect of Missouri culture in the summer is that people tend to hangout at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Nice lake homes on the water, fancy boats, fun drinks, good vibes, and…

Swimsuits - the infamously feared summer garment that reminds us all of how much we’ve let go.

And the fact that everyone is in their swimsuits means that you probably don’t want to feel wildly insecure in your own skin. 

I actually had a client tell me once that one of his bigger motivations in pursuing body recomposition is that he didn’t want to be the “fat friend” in photos from a friends vacation he’d be taking in a few months. 

Oof!

But, for the sake of setting up our analogy, let’s assume that next year you are going to show up to the lake after having undergone some type of weight loss or body recomposition effort.

I present to you two scenarios that could apply to men or women.

Lake Scenario 1 - You Lost Weight But That’s About It

You show up and no one really says anything. 

You’re in your swimsuit on the boat enjoying everyone’s company for maybe 40 minutes before you get caught up in a 15-minute conversation with your brother-in-law you haven’t seen a while when he says, “Am I making things up or did you lose some weight?”

Tickled that someone finally noticed your 30-pound weight loss, you proudly say, “I did actually! I’ve lost 30 pounds,” to which he responds, “Thirty pounds? Really? Huh. Well good for you, man. I wouldn’t have guessed it to be 30, but that’s great.”

Ouch! 

And to be honest with you, I think that’s what happens a lot when people diet for a weight loss goal through slaving away on the StairMaster (or any other type of cardio machine) without paying homage to resistance training and a high-protein diet along the way.

You lost weight, but no one really cares because you don’t really look that different and you certainly don’t have that hard-body look that tends to turn heads.

You'll be softer but mainly just smaller and equally squishy unless you really took your fat loss to the extremes.

And even then you'd probably just be a super tiny person with little to no muscle mass and a metabolism fit for a toddler.

Lake Scenario 2 - You Got Lean and Jacked

You show up and everyone says, “Dude, what in the world did you do?! You look sick!” 

I’m not saying you all of sudden transformed into Chris Evans, but you’ve definitely got broader shoulders, a shelfed chest, and some abs.

And, depending on how short your swim pants are, you might even be showing off a bit of quad pizzazz like our handsome Internet model Peter over here to the left.

You see that quad vein? Good job, Pete.

Or for the ladies, imagine hearing, “Girl, you look amazing! Please tell me exactly what you did so I can start tomorrow! But seriously, what did you do...”

Those are the kind of reactions that happen organically when you show up with less flabby underarms, stronger and more shapely glutes and legs, and a flatter tummy than you’ve had in a long time.

Just imagine how invigorating of a feeling that would be.

Speaking from experience as a body recomposition coach, those are the comments that continue to light the motivation fire for people more than anything else.

I could be wrong, but my guess is that 10 out of 10 people would choose this second scenario over the first every single time.

And for anyone scoffing right now because they’re unimpressed with the focus on vanity, keep in mind that having a strong, muscular body is a very functional way to live.

So what in the flying fork does that all have to do with not looking to the StairMaster to get you that hard, lean look? 

It’s a reminder that the coveted hard body look is a product of weight training, protein, and caloric control - not impulsive amounts of cardio.

And if you really want to remodel your physique over the long-term, cardio will actually probably play a somewhat minimal role in that process relative to those more important points of emphasis. 

3. You Are Super Duper Overweight

One last reason I think some people should avoid using the StairMaster is if you are significantly overweight or obese. 

The reason for that is simply because you likely don’t need to do something that intense.

In other words, just getting your diet in check is enough to get most obese people losing slabs of weight with very little required exercise.

I don’t say this to be judgemental in the slightest, but it seems like obesity is often times the result of having done almost everything “wrong” in terms of diet and exercise for an extended period of time, which means making a few critical changes - especially in the realms of calorie control - is enough to get the scale moving in the right direction.

I think I felt the need to bring this up because I frequently will see some very overweight people using the StairMaster at my gym, and it always makes me wonder if they know that it’s probably unnecessary. 

Secondly, I think being on the StairMaster when you’re very overweight puts you at increased risk of burnout because it’s semi-unsustainable. 

Imagine being overweight, putting in a ton of work on the stairs without tweaking your diet, not losing any meaningful amount of weight in the first two weeks, and giving up.

I think that’s probably a very real thing and the greatest source of frustration for a lot of people looking to lose weight.

“Screw it! If I’m not going to lose any weight, I’m done.”

If you’re very overweight, I would encourage you to look to more sustainable forms of increased caloric expenditure like:

• Walking outside with friends

• Incline treadmill walking at a very doable pace

• Spin class

• Other group classes with a community element like CrossFit

If you’d like an in-depth take on how to leverage walking for fat loss, read my article here.

Let's Wrap It Up

That was a long one, so let’s recap.

Being on the stairs stinks. 

Your heart rate goes soaring through the roof, you sweat like you're in a sauna, and your hip flexors cramp up into little tennis balls.

So if you're going to put yourself through that, do so for reasons that you've determined make sense for your long-term goal. 

Trying to lose body fat? Stairs could work! But walking also works, might me more sustainable, and sucks a lot less if you have the time.

Trying to gain muscle optimally? I'd recommend staying off the stairs and sticking with a moderate level of steps mainly for health. 

Walking up stairs won't make you jacked or help you really turn heads at your next pool party or family event at the lake. 

And for the love of all things moderately decent, don’t hop on the StairMaster in an attempt to grow your butt, ladies. 

“What about you, Andrew? Do you do the StairMaster?”

Personally, I have strategically used the stairs in the past to accelerate my fat loss, but I did so in a limited fashion with design and purpose. I encourage you to do the same! 

In fact, here is my transformation from 2019 when I lost 18 pounds. I used the stairs for the last two weeks of my diet. I was around 200 on the left and about 182 on the right.

And just for some comparative photos, I got on the stairs zero times when I underwent this transformation you see below in 2020.

I walked, lifted weights 5-6 times per week, ate plenty of protein, and kept my calories in check.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew

How to Leverage Walking to Your Fat Loss Advantage

When it comes to walking and its relationship to fat loss, we’re all looking for a quick and easy answer to one particular million dollar question:

Exactly how much should I be walking to lose fat and get lean?

To be honest with you, I’ve found that one of the biggest problems with trying to put out information regarding body recomposition in general is that individuality almost always gets lost in favor of one conservative (yet heavily nuanced) take-home point for the masses.

Walking is no different, but let me do my best.

What’s the magic amount of walking we need to get summer shredded?

As much as I hate to tell you this, there is no specific amount of walking we could prescribe to any given person if the goal is to leverage walking as a tool for fat loss.

Sorry, folks. I know that would be much easier than wading through another duly nuanced write-up about the inner-workings of body recomposition, but that's just not how it works for one simple reason: Every single person embodies a uniquely different combination of lifestyle factors that affects their body’s immediate “walking requirement” for fat loss.

In my experience, those lifestyle factors include your caloric intake, your daily activity levels, whether or not you resistance train (and how much if you do), and the current state of your metabolism, but what all of this really comes down to is getting yourself into a caloric deficit.

And because of that, there is no “one size fits all” recommendation unless you want to be a moron and recommend we all do two hours on the treadmill everyday (and even that might not “work” if you’re not monitoring your caloric consumption).

Let’s take a few examples.

I’m personally losing fat on 13K steps a day at the moment, but I have a client losing on 10K and another on 8K. So, what gives?

Again, when it comes to walking, the amount you need for fat loss is simply “whatever it takes” given the remaining context of your life.

Therefore, what it takes for me might not be what it takes for you or anyone else for that matter.

So, if you’re not losing body fat living the lifestyle you’re currently living, the answer to how much you need to be walking is just “more.”

But, how much more?

Practically speaking, I would recommend walking sustainably more.

In other words, don’t get overeager and say, “Alright, I’m going to walk 20K steps a day until the fat is gone.” It’s unlikely you’d be able to stick to that for more than a day or two. In fact, you’d probably get to 16K the first day and then fall off the wagon all to have gained nothing but discouragement and frustration when you could have made a more conservation and long-term move in the first place.

Instead, it’s probably a better idea to increase your daily step count average by 1,000 steps per day as a starting point.

How i coach my clients toward walking more

This is how I usually guide my clients in their first weeks with me.

• For the first two weeks, I will tell them to live life normally and track steps accordingly.

  • This is helpful because it gives us a baseline. Just as an example, let’s say they track their steps without altering their behavior for 14 days to reveal that they average around 5,389 steps per day.

• As simple as this sounds, I’ll most often just prescribe a new weekly average of 6,000+ with the caveat that I don’t want them exceeding that on purpose.

  • You might be wondering why, and I would be happy to explain.

    • One huge problem that I see time and time again in the body recomposition space is that people will fail to get more out of less. If I had to give it a name, I might call it the “Go Hard or Go Home Fallacy.”

    • It’s the idea that you must be doing as much as humanly possible in order to get the desired results. And, as the name suggests, it’s a fallacy.

    • In other words, I would rather see my clients sustainably walk more and more in a progressive fashion until it’s no longer suitable for their lifestyle rather than jump straight to something unnecessarily aggressive.

    • This way we’re able to accumulate weeks and weeks of increased walking habits, which inevitably leads to fat loss when paired strategically with the right amount of calorie consumption and other lifestyle factors.

    • An ideal progression might look like this:

      • Week 1: 6,000 steps on average

      • Week 2: 7,000 steps on average

      • Week 3: 8,000 steps on average

      • Week 4, 9,000 steps on average

      • Week 5: 10,000 steps on average

      • Week 6: Just live life normally as a deload.

How to Walk Sustainably More

If you’re up for tracking your steps with a Fitbit or even your iPhone like I do, this is super easy.

Using that ideal progression I mentioned above, consider the following:

Assuming you keep all other lifestyle factors steady from the prior week (most importantly your caloric intake), you’ll know if that each daily step average is sufficient for fat loss if you see a slight dip in your morning weigh-ins.

But the trick here is consistency and control of data collection.

So, let me be clear when I say this: You cannot look to a step goal to be your fat loss saving grace if you are being willy nilly with your caloric intake.

This is why I cannot recommend tracking both your caloric intake and your daily step count consistently if you are serious about achieving predictable fat loss results.

But, if you’re not up for tracking your steps, you’ll probably have to create structure in a different way. For example, you could say, “I’ll walk for 20 extra minutes each day over my lunch break.”

Now, that sounds like a lovely behavior for the broader category of overall physical well-being, but the problem with this way of going about things is that you’re still a bit subject to “seeing what happens” because you still don’t really have any hard data on your current energy balance (calories in versus calories out).

Plus, we’re talking about getting leaner here - not just being a bit more active because your doctor said so.

Those are two very different things.

If you walk for 20 extra minutes a day over lunch but you’re otherwise lazier throughout the day, then you haven’t netted any extra calories out to ignite the fat loss you’re after.

Or, on an ever more realistic level, if you walk for 20 extra minutes but you went to a social gathering and had some pizza, two glasses of wine, and split an ice cream brownie with your friend, you’ve probably way overcompensated for the few extra calories you burned over lunch with the calories you consumed while socializing.

Does that make sense?

At the end of the day, leveraging walking for fat loss outcomes is all about math.

In Summary

So, let me wrap this all up as concisely as I can.

1. Before you even think about implementing walking as a fat loss strategy, make sure to get your calories and protein in check first. You can absolutely start walking more for general health, but there’s no guarantee of fat loss until all of the variables are accounted for.

2. We didn’t touch on this much in the article, but resistance training is what gives most people that hard, lean look a lot of us are longing for deep down. But you don’t have to train with weights to lose body fat, it just tends to improve your body composition outcomes when matched with a proper diet plan.

3. Once your calories, protein, and training are in order, pick a daily step goal and stick to it using a Fitbit or even just an iPhone you can carry in your pocket all day. Remember, consistency is key.

4. Monitor your bodyweight a few times a week if possible and take note of any downward trends. If you’re losing scale weight, chances are you’re losing body fat due to your self-imposed caloric deficit. If not, you’ll either need to lower your calories or increase your steps.

5. If you choose to increase your steps, do so in a sustainable manner. Think 1,000 step increases in daily averages across a week of time.

And that’s the gist of it.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew