In this quick read, I am using an example of Strong Man athletes to explain how de-emphasizing strict form and allowing your body to recruit several muscle groups for total body exercises can help you burn more calories. The caveat is that the first law of thermodynamics, the Law of Conservation, applies where food intake is energy in, and exercise is energy out. Read on!
That's right. Cheating on form has its benefits. Let's first define cheating as:
Recruiting muscles other than the prime mover; or
Changing the exercise to make it easier, in order to complete a rep.
Consider the sport of Strong Man...
In the most general terms, a Strong Man athlete's goal is to move an often awkward shaped weight using their entire body. By simultaneously recruiting several large muscle groups to lift, pull, stabilize and/or press, they can move massive objects like semi trucks or ship anchors, that an average healthy individual could not. Because more muscle groups are activated to produce a large amount of force during each exertion (a.k.a. rep), more energy (in the form of Calories) is expended overall. Since the name of the game is strength, the weights are near or at maximal capacity for the Strong Man athlete.
In order to maintain strength and/or build muscle mass, they need to eat more calories than they burn in training, in competition or just by walking around as massive human beings with astronomical Basal Metabolic Rates (BMR).
Note: No matter what diet, high carbohydrate, high protein, or high fat, you follow, and barring the uncertainties introduced by quantum physics, the laws of thermodynamics are static in this neighborhood of the universe. Calories in = Calories out.
So how does this translate to the rest of us who are not gigantic Norse Viking Berserker types? By doing exercises like sandbag lifts, farmer's walk, suitcase carry, or sled pulls, we can benefit from the whole-body muscle activation and lose weight by eating normally. It is important to note that ALL resistance training builds muscle, so we also get the added benefit of increasing muscle mass over time. Muscle fibers contain relatively high amounts of mitochondria, which are responsible for turning food (Calories in) to energy (ATP, the body's energy "currency").
By reducing the weight to 60-70% of a one-rep max, we can increase the rep range. Because no individual muscle or muscle group is fatigued in a given session, we can perform the same workout on consecutive days with a reduced risk of negative consequences due to over-training. This subsequently translates into more training days per week, and a higher frequency of Calorie deficit days (days when we burn more than we eat).
For more information about how to lose weight, get strong, or find your beast mode, contact coach_rup@roninmonsterfactory.com!
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