Body composition trends

Having now delivered over 10,000 personal training hours, I would like to share with you some of the re occurring trends I have noticed when working towards body composition related goals with my clients as well as the key ingredients which have allowed me to build a business around changing body shapes.

Step 1 to achieving a result is to devise a plan. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. The depth and the science behind this plan is the key to your success.  Rather than saying to yourself ‘I want to build some muscle and drop some body fat’, how much muscle do you want to build and how much fat do you want to drop and over what time period? Having assessed someone I help them decide on how to go about achieving such a goal by working with the end result in mind. An example 6 week goal would look like this:

- A reduction of 0.5% of body fat per week for 6 weeks dropping from 19% to 16%.

- Build 3 kilos of lean muscle mass from 75 kgs to 78 kgs (o.5 kgs per week)

Once this goal is set, filling up each training session and eating the right type and amount different foods comes next. With the hundreds of people I have taken through my model, there are certain trends which continually crop up which may be of use to you if you are an existing exerciser looking to take it to the next level.

Let’s start from the beginning. Using the BioSignature method, I gain a clear understanding of where and why people store their fat in specific places. To give a general overview, the back of the arms, chest and legs are most sensitive to our sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen. For men and women, these areas take longer to make changes and I have found are more receptive to exercise compared to nutrition.

The abdominals and back area are generally easier to change quickly and will respond almost instantly to the right changes being made within your food intake. These areas of your body are heavily affected by sugar content and stress levels so simple diet changes can reverse this imbalance on a daily basis if applied correctly.

If you are an existing exerciser, you may have noticed that your triceps, chest and legs take much more work to improve the muscle tone. Some people who come to me say they have never made changes in these areas and can’t work out why. The answer to this common scenario lies amongst balancing your testosterone and oestrogen levels through specific nutrition and exercise modifications. Simply doing more running is not the answer to leaning up these body parts.

You absolutely must use weight training and resistance work within your programme to make real changes to your body shape. Aerobic exercise on its own is not enough. In many cases, existing high levels of our stress hormone cortisol can make running and aerobic exercise counterproductive for many people, often contributing to fat storage.  This is because most people’s issue is that they do not have enough lean muscle mass. Remember, lean muscle metabolises fat, so the more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn at rest.

A lack of muscle mass, high cortisol levels and excessive cardio is a recipe for ‘no results’. The key is to create an internal environment which your body is able to slowly build lean muscle which in turn will increase your rate of fat loss and change your body shape. This applies to women aswell. So changing the shape of your legs, arms and chest can be done, but it takes precision working alongside an exercise and nutrition programme tailored to your genetic and hormonal profile.

So, weight training is obviously at the top of the list for creating long term change to your body shape. The amount and quality of the proteins, fats and carbohydrates play a vital role in this process aswell. (All of which need to be tailored in accordance to your body shape and goals). The foods that we eat largely dictate our hormonal profile which we know is highlighted by where we store our fat on our bodies. Improving the quality and quantity of protein is a good start, cutting out soy and eating more dark skinned fruits will all help towards balancing your sex hormones. The result of this will help you shift more fat from your arms, chest and legs.

Leaning out your abdominals is a faster process and is based around cutting out excess sugars, balancing your stress levels and loading your abdominals with correct exercise. Don’t fall into the sit up trap, there is more to having nice abs than doing hundreds of sit ups each day. Once again, it comes down to balancing key hormones (insulin and cortisol) through exercise and nutrition which makes the difference. I will say that it takes considerably less time to change the shape of your abs than it does any other part of your body. A simple sugar detox for a week will make the world of difference. That is without even doing any exercise!

Dave Fletcher (January 2010)

Related content:

1. Next 6-weeks to my body composition programme…
2. Body transformation trends
3. VIDEO – Weeks 5 – 8 of the Men's Fitness 'Get ripped challenge' with Dave Fletcher
4. Testosterone – The power hormone