Lose Fat Without Cardio
Men over 40 can lose fat without cardio I’ve done it and my clients have also done it. In fact, I’ve managed to get down to the single digits of body fat with strength training and nutrition being the number one factor.
Fat loss is overcomplicated an awful lot by the fitness industry and the first thing a man over 40 thinks of when trying to lose fat is he must get down to the gym and start doing endless classes, aerobic exercises or cardio nearly every day.
Granted, moving more like this will burn extra calories and you might lose some fat, but for the long term it’s a recipe for burnout, lowered testosterone and injury.
There are far smarter ways to losing fat than doing endless cardio!
Take it from someone who maintains a 6-pack year-round whilst only strength training 3 x per week and doesn’t do endless amounts of cardio.
Lose fat with nutrition
Losing fat for men over 40 is a simple equation of getting your calories correct, eating the right foods and breaking those calories up into the right amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats to help support fat loss and lean muscle tissue.
Couple that with strength training to build and maintain lean muscle and you’re going to look awesome.
With that said, even if you eat too many “clean foods” you’ll still gain fat.
If you eat more calories than what your body burns per day it doesn’t matter where those calories come from, you’ll still have to deal with un-wanted fat gain.
It’s possible to lose fat even if you’re not eating the healthiest foods, it’s just I don’t recommend that because they don’t support optimum health and performance.
There are approximately 3500 calories in 1lb of fat, so it makes sense that you’d need to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day to lose 1lb of fat by the end of next week.
The reality is that to lose fat without cardio you need to be in a calorie deficit.
You can’t lose fat without consuming less calories than what your body burns per day, but this is where a lot of men over 40 take it too far and drastically cut calories.
If eating less calories than what your body burns works, you might think going even lower on calories is the way forward, but this can backfire drastically.
If you restrict calories too much, your body tends to hold onto fat thinking a famine is around the corner. It’s also the fastest way to feel starved and miserable encouraging binge eating that isn’t going to help you over the long term.
The key is to eat slightly less calories than what your body burns per day so that you still feel full and satisfied.
Feeling starved all the time like you want to shoot yourself isn’t the best way to long term fat loss!
Let’s say your magic number of fat loss calories is 2000, the question you should ask yourself is “How do I make this 2000 calories as enjoyable as possible?”
If you break those calories up into adequate protein i.e. 0.8g of protein per lb of lean body weight per day, 35-40% carbs and 20-25% healthy fats this will keep you feeling full and supply your body with all the essential macronutrients.
When eating less calories, it’s essential that you don’t go too low on carbs, too low on fats or too high on protein.
Balanced nutrition always works best, forget those fad diets.
Meal frequency
It was once thought that eating 5-6 small meals per day was the key to fat loss, but the reality is it’s not the number of meals you eat per day but the total amount of daily calories you eat that really matters.
So, whether you eat 2, 3 or 6 meals per day it’s not going affect your rate of fat loss if you’re supplying enough daily calories.
But, having said that, eating LESS frequently can have huge benefits when it comes to getting lean.
When you eat bigger and less meals you’ll use more of the sympathetic hormonal system which will boost testosterone and growth hormone, this is the type of environment you want to create for men over 40.
Nutrition and testosterone
Especially for men over 40, our main goal should be to keep testosterone as high as possible.
Unfortunately, from about age 30 our testosterone levels start to decline, this has huge implications on building lean muscle and losing fat as testosterone plays an important role in this process.
One of our main goals should be to increase testosterone through training and nutrition.
The best way to increase and keep testosterone at peak levels is to eat enough protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats.
Some great foods are eggs, fatty fish, avocados, nuts, almonds, lean ground beef and anti-estrogenic foods such as cruciferous vegetables.
It’s also important never to go too low on calories and accept a gradual fat loss of 1 to 1 ½ lbs per week.
Not only will you feel your best losing fat this way, but it’s the only way to keep it sustainable over the long term so that you can still enjoy your life without feeling neglected.
Strength training
You can lose fat without cardio but trying to lose fat without strength training will give you a drastically different, unhealthy appearance than those who incorporate strength training into the equation.
Nutrition and strength training are key to getting the lean body you really want!
When you restrict calories if you’re not sending the signal to your body to hold onto or build additional muscle, you’ll encourage your body to drop lean muscle as well as fat, giving you a vastly different appearance than someone who focuses on lifting to maintain muscle mass.
Lean muscle is crucial to keeping your metabolism operating optimally and more calories being burned at rest.
When you build a degree of lean muscle without the bulk and drop fat you’re going to look awesome, this is exactly what I teach in my course Abs Over 40.
By focusing on the most productive, practical and safe exercises for men over 40 you’re going to look your best without spending your life in the gym.
Compound exercises are perfect for men over 40, they’re joint friendly, boost testosterone and build lean muscle in 2-3 muscle groups at once from one exercise.
For example, the incline barbell bench press builds muscle in the chest, shoulders and triceps in one movement.
It’s those types of exercises that men over 40 should be focusing on to get the best benefits from their exercise routines and simply look awesome.