Article by Leo Babauta. (Follow me on Twitter.)
If you’re like me, you can eat healthy much of the time, exercise a lot, and still find your fat-burning efforts at a plateau.
It seems easier to lose the first 30 pounds than the last bit of fat around your middle.
And if you’re like me, you want to get lean — for reasons that may vary from improved physical performance to better health to better looks. It’s not always easy to get rid of that stubborn belly fat — or any fat, for that matter, as you can’t “spot reduce” just your belly fat.
So I’ve created a list of things you can do to break through that plateau, if you’ve been exercising and eating fairly healthy for awhile but have seen your progress slow considerably. That’s the situation I found myself in recently, and these are the techniques I’ve been using to pretty good success.
Who Should Use These Tips
Again, this post is aimed at those who have been exercising regularly for at least a few months and who already eat fairly healthy. It’s for those who want to break through a plateau and speed up their fat-burning, lean-making progress. It’s for those who are looking for leanness and not hugeness.
If that’s you, read on.
If you don’t exercise regularly, I highly recommend you start right away (assuming you don’t have major health problems) and that you start out slowly. These tips aren’t for you. Start with: get healthy and fit with exercise, and 4 simple steps to start the exercise habit.
If you regularly eat junk food — that’s sugary foods, fried foods, fast foods, fatty foods, processed foods, or refined carbs — this isn’t the place to start. Better to start with the basics — learning to slowly wean yourself from these junk foods and start eating mostly whole foods instead. I’m not saying you can never have sweets or french fries, but you should cut back on them and only have them in moderation. Start here: get healthy and fit by eating healthy.
If you are looking to build massive amounts of muscle, this post isn’t for you. To do that, the prescription is pretty simple: 1) do compound lifts like the squat, deadlift, bench press, standing military press, standing barbell row, power clean, pullup, etc.; 2) lift heavy and continue to progress; 3) eat a LOT, including lots of protein. I recommend lifting 3 times a week, full body routine, unless you’re a serious bodybuilder (in which case, you know better than I do how to reach your goals).
But if you’re looking to get lean, as I said, these tips will help take you from your foundation of healthy eating and regular exercise to your goal of losing that last bit of stubborn fat.
How to Rev Up Your Fat Burning
You don’t have to do all of the following tips — pick ones that will work best for you and give them a try. If they don’t do much after a few weeks, try some of the other tips:
- Lean Your Diet. I typically eat pretty healthy. As a vegetarian, I stick with lots of veggies, fruits, lean protein, nuts, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and good fats. For the most part. But I also allow myself some indulgences, including veggie pizza, some sweets, and other treats. And while I think that’s a good lifestyle to have, sometimes you have to get a little strict with yourself for a little while to achieve your goals. So right now I’m on a self-created diet with only one menu plan — I eat the same things every day. I have a set breakfast, set lunch, set dinner, and set snacks. I’ve taken the choice out of eating, and for me that’s been working. That might not work for everyone. The key is to cut out the junk food and other treats (except for maybe 1-2 cheat meals a week). Cut back on grains for a little while and focus more on lean protein, veggies, fruits and good fats. With a diet like this, you’ll get lean faster.
- Intervals. If you do cardio exercise such as running, cycling, rowing, or what have you … rev it up with higher-intensity intervals. This means going at a little under full speed for a short interval, and then going slow for another short interval. There are tons of great interval workouts, but one of my favorites recently are Tabata Intervals — basically 20 seconds of intense exercise, then 10 seconds of rest … and repeat those intervals 8 times. That’s a total of four minutes — a great workout in a short amount of time. I suggest easing into interval training if you haven’t done much of it before — just pick up the pace for a minute, then go slower for another minute. Don’t overdo it at first. Also realize that if you do intense intevals, you will probably have to cut back on the duration of the exercise.
- Metcon Workouts. These are usually workouts that combine strength training with cardio at high intensities. Generally they’re about 20 minutes (give or take 10 minutes), and they use a combination of exercises with no rest in between. Crossfit is the ultimate expression of this philosophy — typical workouts include doing four rounds of 400-meter sprints and 50 squats (as fast as you can) … or 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats (as fast as you can). See Crossfit’s “girl named Workouts of the Day” for more examples.
- Hills. If you normally run, add some challenge to your runs with hills. Hills are like strength training for runners. They add intensity and are a great way to rev up the fat burning. I suggest easing into hill running if you’re not used to it. Start by running a slightly hilly course — gentle, rolling hills. Then run a course with hills that are a bit tougher. Then, when you’re good and strong (after a few weeks), do some hill repeats up a challenging hill — run hard up the hill, then go easy down the hill, for 5-7 repeats. You’ll curse my name when you’re done.
- Heavy Weights. If you normally do strength training, but only do bodyweight exercises (which are great) or do high reps with lighter or medium weights, try increasing the intensity. Do this gradually, of course, as you don’t want to overdo it at first. Shoot for 3 sets of 5 reps with a heavier weight, for each exercise you do. This will help you to build more muscle and increase your metabolism.
- Compound Lifts. Combine the above tip of lifting heavier weights with this tip — only do compound lifts. That means no isolation lifts, where you’re only working one muscle group at a time. Be sure that each lift uses two or more joints. Bicep curls are an example of an isolation lift — only the elbow joint is involved. Examples of compound lifts include the bench press (shoulder and elbow joints involved), the pullup (again, shoulder and elbow), squat (knees and hips and back). With compound lifts, you are working more muscles at once, and as a result you’re going to build more muscle overall. Compound lifts are also more functional — they mimick real-world motions. No one lifts anything like they do in a bicep curl, but we squat every day (think of picking something up off the floor, or sitting down and then getting up).
- Extra Activities. If you’re doing all of the above tips, you’re on a great track to get lean. But if you’ve stepped up the intensity and are eating super lean for a month or so and want to take it to the next level, then add some extra activities to your schedule several times a week. These could include anything where you get active for at least 30 minutes: playing sports, going on a hike, doing some yardwork, doing some intense house cleaning (no, the Roomba doesn’t count), going swimming, etc. Just get active, in addition to your regular workouts. This extra activity will help you burn those extra calories and help break through your plateau.
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译文:
7种能起死回生加速脂肪燃烧帮助瘦身的办法
本文由里欧·巴宝塔（Leo Babauta）撰写。
如果你跟我一样，在大多数的时候都吃的很健康，进行很多的锻炼，却仍然发现你的脂肪燃烧没有很大的变化。
一开始减去30磅是很容易的，但是要减去腰上的最后一点点脂肪却要难的多。
如果你跟我一样，你想变得苗条——理由可能有很多种，从想要改善身形到变得更加健康到改善外貌。想要去掉那些顽固的小肚子或是其他部位的脂肪都不是一件容易的事，因为你不能说减这一部分就真的仅仅只减去这一小部分的脂肪。
所以我发明了一系列的活动能让你突破这个瓶颈，如果你已经长期做了锻炼并且饮食非常健康，但是仍然没有可观的效果，进程相当的慢，那么这就是我近来在自己身上发现的情况了。并且我提供的这些活动我都已经亲身实践并且得到了非常良好的效果了。
谁应该采用这些建议呢？
重申一次，这篇报道旨在让那些已经进行常规运动了好几个月并且饮食非常健康，但是却陷入了瓶颈期想要加速脂肪燃烧的人士突破瓶颈加速减肥进程的，而不是为了打造骨感美或是为过度肥胖者减肥的。
如果你是符合条件的，那么请接着看。
如果你不经常锻炼，那么我强烈建议你可以马上开始（假设你没有严重的健康问题的话），并且是循序渐进的慢慢开始。这些建议并不适合你。请先阅读：用锻炼来变得健康漂亮 和 四个简单步骤开始健身习惯。
如果你经常吃垃圾食品——那些含糖量很好的食物，油炸食品，快餐，油腻食品，腌制的食物或者是烟熏的食品——以下的建议也不是适合你开始减肥的建议。你应该更好的从基础做起——学会慢慢的摆脱这些垃圾食品，开始吃一些新鲜的食物。我并不是说你再也不能吃糖果或者薯条，但是你必须减少食用量，适度的食用。请从这里开始吧：健康饮食，健康漂亮
如果你在寻求一种能够锻炼出大量肌肉的办法，那么这篇报道也不适合你。要达到那样的地步，办法很简单：1）做一些混合的举重训练，比如蹲举，硬举，卧举，站立肩部推举，站立杠铃划船，高翻和俯卧撑等等；2）重物拎举并且循序渐进；3）大量进食，包括大量的蛋白质。我建议一周进行三次举重训练，全身运动，除非你是专业的塑型人员（这种情况，我觉得你会比我更清楚怎样到达你的目标)。
但是如果你是想要变得苗条，正如我说的，那么这些建议会帮助你在你常规运动健康饮食的基础上到达你的目标，甩掉那最后一点顽固的脂肪。
如何加速脂肪燃烧
你不必完成以下所有的建议——选择一些最适合你的，并且做一些尝试。如果几周以后仍然没有什么效果，那么可以换一些其他的试一下。
- 倾斜饮食我通常都吃的非常健康。作为一名素食者，我坚持吃很多的蔬果，精益蛋白质，坚果，纯谷物食品，低脂奶制品和优质脂肪。但是我也允许自己偶尔放任一下，吃一些蔬菜披萨，一些糖果和一些宴请。同时我也觉得这是一种很好的生活方式，有时候为了达到目标你必须对自己稍加严苛一点。 因此现在我正处于一个自主发明的饮食计划，这只有一份菜单——也就是我每天都只吃一样的东西。我吃特定的早饭，特定的午饭，特定的晚饭和特定的零食。我已经从食物中定下了我的选择，并且这对我来说非常的有效。当然这不一定对每个人都有效果。关键就是在于要隔绝垃圾食品和其他的宴请招待（除了也许每周一到两次的自我欺骗一下，吃点好吃的）。稍稍的摆脱胰腺癌谷物食品，而更多的集中在精益蛋白质，蔬果和有益脂肪。有了这样的饮食，你就能够更快的瘦下来。
- 间隔运动. 如果你做类似跑步，骑车，划船的有氧运动，用短时间的高强度运动来加速脂肪燃烧。这也就是说，你在一段时间间隔内以全速进行运动，然后在接下来的一段时间内慢速运动。有很多的短时间隔测试，但是我最近的大爱之一就是塔巴达 （Tabata）——基本上就是20秒钟的高强度运动，然后是10秒钟的休息……并且重复八次。这样一共按月是四分钟——在极短的时间内的一次极强的测试。我建议如果你在没有做过很多类似的运动前，还是慢慢开始这样的锻炼——只要在一分钟内慢慢的加快速度，然后下一分钟再减慢下来。在一开始的时候不要过度的锻炼。而这也意味着如果你能够做高强度间歇运动，那么你也可能要减少你的长时间持续运动。
- 综合锻炼. 这些通常都是一些结合了力量训练和高强度的有氧运动的身体锻炼。通常大约20分钟（允许有10分钟的误差），他们使用一些期间没有任何休息的组合训练。这项运动哲学的最终表述就是综合了田径，体操与举重的许多动作进行无间歇练习——比较典型的有：包括了四次四百米跑步和五十米蹲举（以最快速度）……或者一百次引体向上，一百次俯卧撑，一百次仰卧起坐，一百次蹲举（以最快速度）。可以参考 女生命名为一天的运动量 来找到更多的例子。
- 登山. 如果你经常跑步，尝试用跑步登山来挑战一下自我。登山就好像是对跑步者的一种力量锻炼。他们加大强度，并且这是一个很好的加快脂肪燃烧的办法。我建议如果你不习惯的话，可以就简单的到山上去跑步。从一座山坡较缓的山开始——慢慢的到陡峭的山坡。然后再开始一些地形比较恶劣的山路跑步。那么你会变得健康强壮（几周之后），做一些山路的反复爬坡并且去一些有挑战性的山——艰难的跑上坡，再轻松的下坡，这样周而复始5到7次。在你完成了这些以后，相信你一定会不停的咒骂着我的名字。
- 负重训练. 如果你一直做力量训练，但是只做身体重量的锻炼（这非常好）或者是做一些低等或中等重量的高次数锻炼，尝试一下加大强度。对你每次做的运动都要循序渐进。这会帮助你锻炼肌肉，加快代谢。
- 混合举重. 结合了以上关于做更多的负重练习的建议，再加上这一条——那么也就是说，只需要做混合举重。这意味着在你一次锻炼一个肌肉组织的时候不需要做单项的举重练习。确定你每次的举重锻炼都运动到了两个或以上的关节。二头肌训练就是一个很好的单项举重锻炼的例子——该锻炼只涵盖了肘关节。混合举重有很多例子，包括卧举（肩关节和肘关节），俯卧撑（同样的肩部和肘部），蹲举（膝关节，髋关节和背部）。进行混合举重锻炼，你可以一次锻炼更多的肌肉，而你也会得到全身肌肉的塑型。混合举重更加的功能化——他们模仿了真实生活中的动作。没有一个人会在拎东西的时候只用到二头肌，但是我们每天都在做着蹲举的运动（想一想当我们从地上捡东西的时候，或者坐下和起立的动作）。
- 额外运动. 如果你做了以上的运动，你应该已经在瘦身之路上走的非常不错了。但是如果你已经完成了以上的强度并且已经按照上文的饮食吃了一个月了，想进入下一个阶段了，他们就在你的日程表里每周加几次额外的锻炼吧。其中包括你能够主动做超过30分钟的任何运动：打球，徒步旅行，在后院里干活，做一些高强度的家务劳动（哦，吸尘器可不算哦），游泳等等。只要主动的加入到你的常规运动中就可以了。这些额外运动会帮助你燃烧一些额外的脂肪，并且帮助你突破瓶颈
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