With 14 weeks to go, now is the time when I’ll start to introduce some stimulant based fat burners into the mix to make sure fat continues to come off. When all is said and done, most of your results will come down to diet and training. Fat Burners however can accelerate or maintain the process of trimming off body fat. When taken before exercise they can help to increase exercise performance and calorie expenditure. Firstly we will look at how fat burners work and then we will examine how I utilise them to produce great results without burning out my nervous system.
Products marketed as Fat Burners increase the utilisation of stored body fat in 3 ways
- by releasing Adrenaline the nervous system can perform harder and longer(you do more work and use more calories. Adrenaline second function is to signal fat cells to release stored fat to be processed for energy demands and finally Adrenaline can reduce your awareness of pain and exertion. Basically, with pain dulled down a little you are more likely to keep going.
- Maximizing Active thyroid hormone conversion will insure your thyroid hormone (which governs about 50% of your metabolism) is continually converted from it’s storage form T4 to its active form T3. As calories start to drop this process becomes more important for sustained fat loss. Controlled refeed meals can be a great way to get your body to keep active thyroid levels from dropping.
- Providing the necessary ingredients the body needs to process stored fat for energy production. L-Carnitine is the main product utilised to help transport fatty acids.
This contest preparation phase is going to be 16 weeks and I definitely do not recommend anybody using his or her favourite fat burner for such a long time. Here is how I map fat burning supplementation out over an extended period for a .
Phase 1: the first 4 weeks no extra stimulants needed as the extra clean eating and daily cardio will work just fine. Next Generation CLA is a non-stimulant mild long-term product that will safely and gradually improve body composition. 3 capsules per day has been the clinical dose used in most studies to good effect.
Phase 2: After the first 4 weeks I will add in a fat burning product 5 days per week such as BPMLabs Liporush capsules or Impact Supps Iconic. Usually taken in the afternoon to assist with the cardio sessions performed after work. On the other 2 days per week I only take Acetyl- L-Carnitine and give my nervous system a rest from Stimulants.
Phase 3: At some point, calories will need to start dropping to insure fat keeps coming off. At this stage I will introduce Purge THERM-X for non-stimulant thyroid support as well as utilising carbohydrate refeed meals when my coach permits. Keeping thyroid function active is very important at this point to retain muscle and lose body-fat.
Phase 4: Usually in the last 8 weeks Regular fatburner/stimulants, Acetyl-L-Carnitine and Therm-X will be taken every day. Personally, I feel this is a bit of over-kill for someone just trying to trim up for summer (Phase 2 or 3 would be more appropriate), however Contest Bodybuilding these days does call for extremely low body-fat levels. By consuming plenty of clean water, fruit and vegetables and daily meditation I feel my health and nervous system will be perfectly fine for the lead in to the contest (NO adrenal fatigue).
Next week we are going to look at cardio strategies and sort through some of the myths surrounding “Th Best form of cardio” .