So, these are not the same thing – or at least if you want to be optimal, they shouldn’t be.
Endurance training is about being able to go the distance; it’s about increasing your lactate threshold, which is just fancy talk for being able to do intense stuff for longer.
Fat loss training is about creating the most metabolically expensive environment as possible. It can certainly include endurance training but should not be limited to that. In fact, for fat loss training, I prefer using metabolic resistance training, where you essentially combine intense cardio and weight lifting efforts into a single complex or circuit. Think stuff like my Great Destroyer Complex, or The Wolverine.
Generally, for endurance training, you would not use much, or any, external resistance. But for fat loss training, I definitely recommend external resistance training – i.e., weightlifting.
Why?
Because this helps build muscle, and muscle is metabolically expensive; it helps you to burn more calories automatically and not just manually. And, if you want to lose fat, it’s probably because you want to look better overall, and having lean muscle to reveal underneath fat will help majorly with that.
(Obviously, the other big factor here is nutrition, and whether you have a calorie surplus or deficit going on. Here is my no-longer-unstated assumption: You already have this figured out; at this point, you’re just trying to optimize the training part of things).
Here, in the simplest terms, is how I would differentiate between endurance training and fat loss training.
-> Endurance training: Comfortably hard.
-> Fat loss training: Uncomfortably hard.
What do I mean by comfortably hard? Well, something that is still difficult, but that you can sustain for a prolonged period of time. For example, jogging or cycling or snatching. In terms of “rate of perceived exertion” (RPE), where 10 is the hardest thing ever and 1 is the easiest thing ever, we’re talking somewhere between 5 – 7.
What do I mean by uncomfortably hard? Well, something that is so difficult you cannot sustain it for very long, but only a short period of time. Think sprints or kettlebell complexes or circuits. In terms of RPE, we are now more in the 8 – 10 range. Short bouts of intense exercise, followed by a period of rest, and then repeated.
Now, the cool thing about Fat Loss Training is it WILL build your endurance, since one has to climb through the aerobic zone on the way to the anaerobic zone. However, if you really want to optimize endurance, you still need to specifically do the prolonged activity training, the comfortably hard stuff, even just to condition your joints and skin.
Of course, there is potential harmony here: Even if your goal is overall fat loss there can still be a place for endurance training, and even if your goal is overall endurance there can still be a place for metabolic resistance training. What I’m emphasizing is just what your emphasis should be. Again, for endurance, do MORE of the comfortably hard stuff and, for fat loss, do MORE of the uncomfortably hard stuff.
So there you have it.
Final thing: Amazingly, my entire family has strep throat right now. In the summer. Including me!
Anyway, the good doctor swabbed our necks and prescribed medicine, so we are on the mend. I actually feel good, minus some annoyance swallowing. In fact, I was planning on training uncomfortably hard today.
How about you?
Strong ON!
Pat
Leave a Reply