Perhaps the first thing to be said about diet and fitness is that there’s a glut of programs out there, the overwhelming preponderance of which are sheer baloney.

Here are a few facts:

A calorie is in scientific terms “a unit of heat required to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water 1 degree (Celsius) at a specified temperature.” (Note: this is called a “food calorie,” also known as a “large calorie.” The so-called small calorie, which is the type used in chemistry, is defined as “a unit of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius.”)

Every food contains calories.

A gram of fat contains about 8 calories.

A gram of carbohydrate or protein contains about 4 calories.

A pound of body fat contains about 3,500 calories.

Thus, by cutting caloric intake by, for instance, 500 calories a day, you will burn approximately 1 pound a week.

To lose weight, you must simply burn more calories per day than you take in.

No amount of hype changes these basic biological facts.

According to the National Research Council, the average woman (5’4″, medium frame) who does absolutely nothing, burns between 1,600 and 2,400 calories per day; the average man (5’8″, medium frame) burns 2,300-3,000 calories per day.

The body burns most of its calories replacing tissue, processing food, pumping blood, and so on.

The most accurate equation for calculating how many calories the body burns is called the Mifflin equation. For 78% of the people tested, the Mifflin equation estimates the number of calories a person burns to be within 10% of the measured number of calories they burned at rest.

But there’s a simpler formula for estimating how many calories you burn when you’re completely at rest: add a zero to your weight (if you weigh 175, make it 1,750) and then add your actual weight twice to that figure (1,750 + 175 + 175 = 2,100). Thus 2,100 is roughly how many calories a 175 pound person uses in a completely sedentary state.

Using these same figures:

“To determine your total calorie needs, you have to add calories for general activity and exercise. With your desk job and workouts, you probably burn one-half again your resting needs, for a total of 3,150 calories (2,100 plus 1,050 equals 3,150). If you were engaged in a regular aerobic exercise program, you would require more calories. On average, walking or jogging a mile consumes about 100 calories” (From the desk of Clarence Bass).

These are, of course, only estimates, and in the end you must get to know your own body, as indeed the Stagyrite once sagely advised.

There is, ultimately, only way to get and stay in shape, and that by wanting it with all your heart and soul. All the fads and all the hype will never, I’m afraid, provide a shortcut for that, although some things may motivate you more than others.

A few incontrovertible truths about weight loss:

“Spot reducing” (so-called) is a myth. It is physiologically impossible to lose body fat selectively from a specific area — the abs, for example.

Exercising the abs and obliques, just like any other muscle group, only strengthens those muscles and makes them more muscular. It does not burn fat. Those muscles may indeed strengthen under the layers of fat, but the fat still remains, masking the muscles thereby.

Genetics are the real determiner of where and how a person will lose body fat. There is no universal: people lose body fat in an individual manner.

Burning fat comes about primarily through the reduction of caloric intake.

Burning fat does not primarily come about through umpteen repetitions. Countless repetitions are a colossal waste of time.

If you wish to lose body fat, follow these rules:

1. Eat a little less.

2. Eat a little more nutritiously.

3. Do something lower-body aerobic – this includes brisk walking – at least four times each week for at least 30 minutes.

If you reduce your caloric intake about 300 calories less per day from what it normally takes to maintain your current weight, and at the same time if you do something aerobic, focusing on the butt, hamstrings and quads (i.e. walking, running, cross-country skiing, but not bicycling, which becomes too easy too fast), and if you do it diligently, you will, over time, depending upon your own genetic disposition, see your body fat become a thing of the pass. Your abs and obliques will begin to show through, and most important of all, you’ll decrease your risk for diabetes and heart disease.

The idea of which strikes many – but perhaps not all – as preposterous. And yet it’s an idea whose popularity is gaining. Quoting the February, 1997, Physician and Sports Medicine report: “Just one set of each strength exercise, correctly done twice a week, is generally enough to increase strength significantly.”

In response to which, Doctor Howard G. Knuttgen, of University Park, Pennsylvania, answers: “Monumental misinformation … For active adults, 2 or 3 sets repetition maximum per session for each muscle group done 3 to 4 sessions per week.”

Doctor Ralph N. Carpinelli, neuromuscular strength trainer at Adelphi University, in turn responded to Doctor Knuttgen by saying: “There is no scientific evidence, nor is there any physiological basis, that would support the superiority of multiple sets … Theoretically, as people become stronger and wish to attain maximal increases in strength and hypertrophy, which is not accomplished without optimal recuperation, they may require lower volume and frequency.”

Doctor Carpinelli reviewed, rather exhaustively, all the scientific literature available on the subject. His conclusion: “The quantity of exercise is not as important as the quality of exercise” (Master Trainer, Dec. 1997).

The argument is, needless to say, controversial and far from finished.

Try this:

If you’re in good shape — and only if you’re in good shape — experiment with both methods. One week take Dr. Knuttgen’s advice: 3 sets of any lift you like, all to exhaustion. Choose a weight that will allow you to do around 10 reps on the first set.

One week later, do the same lift with the same weight for, but only 1 set.

What happens? How many reps can you do comparatively?

Many believe that when you know you have more sets ahead of you, you’ll subconsciously hold back the better to conserve energy, thereby cheating yourself out of a more quality workout; whereas if you’re only doing 1 set, you’ll remain more intensive and focused.

None of which is written in stone, of course. You should experiment and let us know your results.

If – heaven help you – you’re anything like me, you find yourself frequently confused by the physical fitness jargon out there.

One of the main things I’m hearing these days is “V02 max.”

What the heck is V02 max?

V02 max, it turns out, is also knows as “maximal oxygen uptake.”

Most experts today generally consider V02 max to be the best measure of aerobic fitness.

And what exactly does the term “aerobic fitness” refer to?

To start with, “aerobic” literally means “with oxygen”; “anaerobic” means “without oxygen.”

Thus, aerboic exercise is exercise that is fairly intense and undertaken for a long period of time. It is, in other words, exercise that gets your thumper thumping and also makes you breathe hard, for a sustained duration.

“Aerobic refers to the use of oxygen in a muscle’s energy-generating process” (American College of Sports Medicine).

Running is an excellent example of an aerobic activity.

Now as your aerobic activity increases, your body eventually reaches it’s oxygen capacity limit – specifically, its capacity for oxygen consumption.

That limit is the pinnacle of your aerobic capacity.

That pinnacle is known as your maximal oxygen uptake – i.e. your “V02 max.”

So there you have it.

There’s more:

“As intensity increases beyond V02max, your body must shift to anaerobic (without oxygen) energy production. An oxygen debt begins to build at this point and blood lactate levels climb. In general terms, one’s ability to continue exercising in the face of rising oxygen deficit and lactate levels is called anaerobic capacity.

“This is important because many high-intensity sports (including basketball, football, soccer and speed skating) require a high level of both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Clearly, total fitness involves both high V02max and high anaerobic capacity” (From “FORGET THE FAT-BURN ZONE: High Intensity Aerobics Amazingly Effective”).

Killing yourself with extensive ab workouts is a whole lot of pointless, wasted effort if you’re not cutting calories and doing cardio. It’s imperative that you cut your gut fat if you want your abs to show through. You MUST do cardio to get that ripped, six pack look.

A lot of individuals with incredible looking abs do very little in the way of regular ab workouts. Ray, for example, does ONE ab workout per week, for about 15 to 20 minutes.

In this video, Ray presents a pretty intense ab workout that takes less than 5 minutes. Do this 2 or 3 times per week, in conjunction with your daily walking, running, or other cardio, and you’ll be strengthening the core muscles while also dropping body fat, helping that six pack come to the surface.

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