This is a interview blog post

D: Hey its Darren here from www.p4manceelite.com and today we have a special guest, all the way from Australia. He is one badass trainer who owns a little gym, blogs, lives and breathes health and fitness and loves Seinfeld… Welcome Grant Lofthouse.

G: Hahaha thanks for the intro, and for being on this call.

D: No probs dude I’ve looking forward to it all week. Now Grant. why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?

G: Ok well I’m a trainer based out of Australia and own a little gym in Melbourne. And I’m also the creator of CardioHaters.com which is the only site on the net that delivers alternative training methods for fitness enthusiasts who hate cardio.

Most of the stuff I write about is based on the things I have done in the trenches as well as on countless average joes  at my private training facility.

D: Nice nice, now I noticed you mentioned in the trenches. So for those who don’t know, what do you mean by that?

G: Well look these days there is so much conflicting studies on why this and that is good and bad. Shit, even I sometimes don’t even know what to believe anymore.

So most of my blog posts are based upon what we do here in the gym with real people with jobs and a life. Don’t get me wrong… I stay up to date with the latest discoveries. But what I will actually do is try it on my clients and if it works I’ll stick with it, but if it doesn’t Ill can it.

D: Totally makes sense, do you think these days people get too involved with the science side on not so much getting out there and doing it.

G: Absolutely and that’s probably one of the top reasons why people don’t achieve any results. It’s because today they will read about some new diet and then 2 weeks later they will find another one that says that diet is bad and to do this one instead. It’s just never ending.

I also think people forget about the basics and what has worked for years and years and that is train hard and smart, eating clean and recover.

Too many people worry about the little stuff. And I’ve actually got a perfect example for this…

D: Please do share…

G: 2 weeks ago I was at friends birthday and this bloke came up to me and said I follow your stuff but some of it I don’t agree with. And I asked what that was. He said well I read that you shouldn’t eat fruit on a fat loss diet, but you recommend it.

Now the funny part was the bloke was trying to argue with me by throwing big scientific words whilst probably being 10-15 kilos over weight and supporting a beer in his hand.

Do you get my point?

D: Hahaha yeah so you are saying that fruit was the least of the guys problem?

G: Exactly

D: Yeah I totally agree, ok well can we get a bit more specific now. Can you give me 2 points you find people go the wrong way about things when trying to lose fat without cardio.

G: Sure the first thing I notice is people spend too long in a caloric and carbohydrate deficit. Without  getting to overly complicated…

When you restrict calories and carbs for too long, thyroid levels down regulate causing an overall slowing of the metabolism. This means you that everything you will be doing is actually counterproductive.

That’s why people may find going on an extremely low carb and calorie diet will work wonders, but only for so long.

It takes 3-5 days for this to occur so to prevent this you need to eat more calories and carbs every 3-5 days depending on how much fat you want to lose and how much muscle you want to maintain or even build.

D: Oh ok so a typical person can stay on their low carbohydrate diet but every 3-5 days they need to eat more calories and carbs?

G: Yeah for long term success this is huge. Because a diet is only as good as how long you can stay on it.

D: Yeah that makes sense and surely there would be other positives from doing this as well yeah?

G: Absolutely, my clients and myself agree that by topping up every 3-5 days it keeps you happy and sane. Everyone has been on a low carb diet and they suck! You get moody, tired, your sleep turns to shit and so many other things.

But with cycling your carbs you always see light at the end of the tunnel which sets you up for long term dieting which is the key to getting results.

D: Wow! That’s some powerful stuff right there, what about a training mistake?

G: I find when it comes to losing body fat without cardio, people immediately bump up the reps. Now I’m not going to say that high rep training doesn’t work. But what I will say is that low rep training works just as well.

Last year when I got into incredible shape when I was preparing for a contest, all I did were 3 exercises…

 1 Arm Shoulder Press, Pullups and Wheel rollouts.

I wasn’t training legs at the time because I was a couple weeks away from surgery. And I was doing ladders so I’d do 1 Shoulder press, 1 pull up then 2 shoulder presses and 2 pull ups and so forth until I got to 5. I did that 3 days a week and got ripped as.

D: Yeah that’s crazy I can see now why you mention in the trench experience.  I read a lot and I haven’t really come across a compelling article yet that claims to do low rep training when you want to get ripped. If anything these articles are against it.

G: Yeah that’s why I like Dave Tates quote “fuck science, show me what you can do under the bar”.

D: Yeah I’ve heard of that. So what’s your view then when it comes to rep ranges for getting burning body fat without cardio?

G: Well look I’ve done it with low rep, a friend of mine Dave Nelson has done it with high reps so my answer is why not do both?

D: Yeah that’s so true, so how would you program that?

G: Ok well there is a few ways…

One way you can do one month of high rep training and then one month low rep training.

Another way is to incorporate high and low throughout the week for example…

Monday – low reps, Wednesday – high reps and Friday – medium reps. This is how I set  up my RWC workout on my blog.

D: Yeah I noticed that, I really like that program. By the way, will you bring out any more phases for RWC?

G: Thanks bro, yeah I plan to in the next few months.

D: Ok sweet, I can’t wait. Sorry for jumping off topic.

G: No prob’s, and the other the other way is to incorporate it all into one session for example start your main lift with reps low then your next 2 exercises medium reps and then finish off high rep training.

D: Nic stuff man. Alright let’s get onto the big discussion that’s on everyone’s mind. Why you hating on cardio so much??

G: Hahaha Yeah I guess it’s no secret that I’m not a fan so let me clear up the confusion.

For starters the human body was not designed for long duration work, it was designed for short burst such as sprinting to catch our food or really slow stuff such as walking as a way from getting from A to B.

Running at a medium pace for 50+ minutes is just not meant for the body.

Even animals, apart from birds, I cannot think of any other animal that runs continually. They either walk to get somewhere or sprint to catch food or get away from prey.

And I mean you look at the most ripped animals such as cheetahs, tigers and panthers that’s all they do.

So it just doesn’t make sense to me for someone to jump on a treadmill and run continuously for 50+ minutes.

The best from of cardio for getting ripped is either walking or sprinting that’s it!

If you’re going to walk the best is on an empty stomach before breakfast. And the reason it’s better to sprint up a hill as opposed to flat ground is because you don’t hit top speed where you are at greatest risk of an injury.

D: Ok sure, that makes sense, I’ve never really thought of it that way. So where do finishers fit in?

G: Finishers should only be placed at the end of a weight training session and they should only go for 5-10 minutes, not an hour.

D: So don’t do them on your off days?

G: Nah they can interfere with recovery times so the only thing you should do is walk, sprint or maybe some skipping.

D: Skipping?

G: Yeah its easy on the joints and doesn’t mess with your CNS to effect recovery times or anything. Skipping is awesome. Afterall, it’s worked for boxers all these years.

D: And hill sprints, how often a week should someone do them?

G: Twice a week would be plenty.

D: Fantastic stuff Grant, thank you so much for this interview I really appreciate it. I think we should wrap it up there. So for those that would like to learn more about your stuff, where should they go?

G: No probs thanks for having me, it was good fun. Just hit up www.CardioHaters.com… peace!

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