Pendulum Training With Fat Loss Incorporated

Christian,

I am currently going through a Fat Loss phase and the discussion of Pendulum Training has caught my attention. Do you think it would be productive to perform a periodized (both training and nutrition) Pendulum Training schedule such as this:

Week 1: Fat Loss
Week 2: Fat Loss
Week 3: Hypertrophy
Week 4: Hypertrophy
Week 5: Strength
Week 6: Fat Losss
Week 7: Fat Loss
etc, etc.

Would this approach make sense or would it be better to stick with a fat loss approach and only a fat loss approach. I realize diet is a huge factor but I really want to lift heavy and minimize muscle loss as much as possible.

Can you give your best advice for someone interested in staying strong while dropping their body fat percentage? Thanks and by the way, when will T-Mag be selling your new E-book? I need to finish my Christmas shopping!

Kbattis

Well, I don’t really believe in a specific form of training for fat loss (except increasing energy system work). It’s more a matter of nutritional modifications.

However the basic idea is sound. Here’s how I’d use it along with the pendulum approach:

Week 1 Hypertrophy/nutrition to gain
Week 2 Strength/nutrition to maintain
Week 3 Power/nutrition to loose fat
Week 4 Strength/ nutrition to loose fat
Week 5: Hypertrophy/ nurition to gain
Week 6: Strength/ nutrition to maintain
Week 7: Power/ nutrition to loose fat
Week 8: Strength/nutrition to loose fat
Week 9: Hypertrophy/nutrition to gain
Week 10: Strength/nutrition to maintain
Week 11: Power/nutrition to loose fat
Week 12: Strength/nutrition to loose fat

So that’s basically 6 weeks of fat loss, 3 weeks of gaining and 3 weeks of balanced nutritional intake.

This approach should allow you to loose a good deal of fat while increasing muscle mass some and gaining a decent amount of strength and power.

Fat loss-type nutrition is better suited to power training because power training has the lowest effect on the muscle structures, so a caloric deficit won’t hurt you much in this case. Even while training for limit strength, which is mostly a neuromuscular thing, you can get away with dieting for one week.

Thanks Christian,

That information was very helpful and it fits in nicely with getting stronger and more powerful while optimizing fat loss.

Will your upcoming E-Book include any fat loss/nutrition information or will it be mainly focused on strength/power training? Thanks again.

Kyle Battis