There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of HIRT. It’s a form of resistance training that’s proven to be very effective at raising your metabolic rate in the hours after exercise. In fact, a recent study shows that HIRT (short for high-intensity interval resistance training) had a much bigger afterburn effect than a workout lasting […]
Am I Losing Fat Or Muscle?
“I’ve been using a body fat scale to let me know if I’m losing fat or muscle,” wrote one reader. “But I’m not sure how much I can trust it, as the results seem to vary wildly.” “How can I be sure that I’m losing fat rather than muscle?” The honest answer is that you […]
Strength Training For Cyclists: Will It Make You Faster?
Some say that cyclists have no business at all lifting weights. Cycling relies mainly on cardiovascular fitness, they say, and there’s absolutely no need to be strong. Strength training represents wasted time that could be much better spent on the bike, and is therefore completely pointless. Others claim that strength training will transform you into […]
Alpha-Lipoic Acid and Weight Loss: The Horseman Takes a Fall
Alpha-lipoic acid forms part of the PAGG stack, a combination of several nutrients made popular in Timothy Ferriss’s book The 4-Hour Body. Ferriss calls it one of the “four horsemen of fat burning” for its alleged ability to “store the carbohydrates you eat in muscle or in your liver as opposed to in fat.” Intrigued […]
The Real Truth About Deer Antler Spray, IGF-1 and Muscle Growth
On the eve of the Super Bowl, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis had to deny using deer antler spray to speed his recovery from a torn muscle. Three-time golf major champion Vijay Singh also found himself in hot water when a Sports Illustrated article reported that he paid $9,000 for the supplement, stickers with holograms […]
HIIT and the Afterburn Effect: Myth or Fact?
The afterburn effect is certainly real in the sense that exercise (especially intense exercise, such as HIIT) can affect your metabolism for a number of hours after the workout is over. However, the size of afterburn effect, as well as the extent to which it contributes to fat loss, have been exaggerated. Here’s a closer […]