Fat Burning Q+A – A Question From A Personal Trainer About How Often To Change His Client’s Fat Loss Program

Question:

Hi Kyle

just a quick question for you. I have a client who has never worked out, since he joined me he has recently lost about 12 lbs. He has been

with me for about 14 weeks and he is on the second program I designed for him. Since he is just getting weight loss now, he has already

lost quite a few inches, his body fat %’age has went down and I have explained to him the transistion period of adding muscle so weight

loss off the start would be slow (in my opinion), should I change his program again as most people suggest or should I run it longer until

he plateaus? If you could give me your professional opinion I would greatly appreciate it. I know this may seem like fatloss101 but I am

curious as to your opinion. Thanks for your time.
Don

Answer:

Hey Don,

Thanks for the question…

It sounds like this person is fairly new to exercise and strength training and if that’s the case ‘newbies’ can typically stick with a

given strength training program considerably longer than people that have been training for a many months.

Keep in mind that most of his gains in strength will be neuromuscular in nature (improved inter and intra muscular coordination) but some

fat loss will definately occur if he is staying in a Caloric Deficit (more calories being expended each day than taken in), regular

progressive strength training, and progressive cardiovascular exercise.

Tom Venuto talks about the importance of the “Feedback Loop,” in his excellent fat loss book “Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle.”

So, to answer your question, I would keep your client in the “Feedback Loop” and keep regularly testing your client’s body fat percentage

and weight every week.

As long as the results are still coming you should be OK.

In other words, keep sticking with what’s working until it no longer works (ie. he hits a fat loss plateau).

You had the right answer all along buddy.

Having said that, there are other factors to consider when thinking about how often to change your client’s training program.

For one, your client’s motivation.

If he is getting sick of the same old training routine then you might want to mix things up periodically even if fat loss results are

still coming.

I hope that helps!


Kyle Battis, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.FatBurningBlog.com
http://www.BurnTheFat.com

PS-I have some great audios with some top fitness professionals over at my Fitness Audio Vault if you’re interested:

www.FitnessAudioVault.com