Seventeen years ago, I had just finished my career as a football player. I had spent almost a decade trying to gain and maintain a playing weight that would allow me to knock heads with some of the biggest, meanest, and baddest athletes in the country. Needless to say, all this extra weight was not healthy and I set out on a mission to burn off the extra pounds. 

In my attempt to lose the weight, I tried a lot of different cardio workouts and fad diets often spending hours upon hours in the gym, with little to no success. It wasn’t until a few years into this journey that I found a recipe that worked. 

Depending on where you’re starting , the road can be bumpy and often the results can feel out of reach. I understand this struggle! Like me, it’s common for many individuals to work for months to years with little progress if there is no plan or no coach to guide them down the right path.

Even though it will take some work, there are many benefits to burning fat and improving body composition, including decreased risk of chronic disease, ability to handle stress better, improved sleep, having the capability to play with your kids and pets, improved mental health, and the list goes on and on!

My goal is to give you the keys to help you find a simple, effective and time efficient plan for you to burn fat and unlock your potential that also worked for me! Here are some of the main highlights:

KEY #1 – HIRE A COACH, SET GOALS, DEVELOP A PLAN, AND COMMIT

First, hire a nutrition coach. The biggest struggle in nutrition for many of our clients is a lack of accountability and no plan. A nutrition coach will help you set realistic goals, make a game-plan, wade through all the B.S., and hold you accountable.  In my last qualification for the CrossFit Games, hiring a nutrition coach was the key to helping me break through and having success!

Second, hire a fitness coach. Figuring out what to do, how to safely perform exercises and when to workout can be as mind-boggling as trigonometry. A coach takes the guesswork out of it for you  and will help you identify your goals, figure out why they are important to you, how you’ll feel when you accomplish them and set up a game-plan to get there.

Finally, commit to your goal. Write it down somewhere, tell others about it and remember: “A goal without commitment, is just a wish.”

Coaching, goal setting, game-planning and accountability is what our coaching staff is all about at Lincoln Nutrition & Fitness. 

Schedule a No Sweat Intro HERE to find out if our coaches are a good fit for you.

KEY #2 – PRIORITIZE YOUR NUTRITION

Working out harder or longer is NOT going to work. I repeat, working out more does not replace nutrition! This is a common misconception that has led to failed goals, chronic disease in seemingly healthy individuals and long, meaningless hours in the gym. 

You need to nourish your body to flourish. Nutrition gives your body the vitamins and minerals it needs to function properly. It regulates hormones, mood, helps your body repair from workouts, assists in better sleep which all leads to burning fat and preventing chronic disease. With proper nutrition, you can literally increase your results exponentially while spending less than an hour in the gym.

Here are three simple things you can do today to prioritize your nutrition for burning fat.

1. Replace starchy or sugary foods in your meals with a vegetable and fruit. 
2. Replace sugary drinks with water or tea.
3. Increase your daily protein intake.

For more help with a nutrition game-plan and accountability, schedule a free consultation with a Nutrition Coach HERE.

KEY #3 – BUILD MUSCLE

Many fear that building muscle will lead to bulkiness. However, building muscle is critical to your success as it’s a key to burning fat and gaining a lean, toned and athletic looking body. 

When the body builds lean muscle, it increases your resting metabolic rate, burning more calories, and increasing lean body composition. 

To dispel the myth, it’s nearly impossible to look like a bodybuilder unless you’re training to be a bodybuilder. Building muscle is highly important for longevity and health.

Here are three ways you can build muscle:

1. Lift heavy weights. To be lean you need to build muscle. Lifting heavy and often builds the muscle you want to burn more calories throughout the day. 

2. Perform multi-jointed, functional exercises. These are exercises that take your joints and muscles through a full range of motion and commonly performed in everyday life. 

Squats, deadlifts, and pressing & pulling exercises are the best examples to get the most bang out of your buck. These types of exercises also elicit hormonal responses that aid in burning fat and building muscle. 

3. Train like an athlete. Think about a sprinter or a running back. They are typically lean and strong. Their training commonly consists of quicker, explosive, and fast movements. Including Olympic lifts and sprints into your workouts is highly beneficial for burning fat.

To find out if building muscle is the right game plan for you, schedule a free personal training consultation HERE.

KEY #4 – TRAIN WITH INTENSITY

If your goal is to lose weight, then light to moderate weights taken to failure in intense bouts of exercise are a great way to build lean muscle and continue your body’s process of burning fat even when you’re not working out.

High intensity interval training consists of working hard for bouts of ten seconds to several minutes with rest to fully recover from each bout.

1. Include high intensity training at least two to three times per week. This pushes your muscle to full capacity for building muscle and burning calories for up to 72 hours after your workout. 

2. Only perform a longer endurance workout once or twice per week. Endurance style workouts are beneficial for burning calories during your workout, but not as potent in stimulating caloric burn after your workout. They are beneficial, but should not be performed every single day.  Longer endurance workouts are also a great tool to help you recover from your higher intensity workouts. 

At Lincoln Nutrition & Fitness, we offer you both nutrition & fitness coaching, from personal training to group CrossFit classes we have the keys to help you burn fat. 

Our personal trainers and group coaches value lifting weights, and using multi-jointed, functional exercises performed at high intensity. You don’t have to guess about what to do! Schedule a free consultation with a coach to see how we can help you with your goals! →  I’M READY TO MEET WITH A COACH!

COACH PHIL KNIEP – Owner & CEO of Lincoln Nutrition & Fitness

Precision Nutrition L1 Coach

CrossFit Level 3 Trainer

Endurance Certified

Mobility Certified

Scaling Certified

3x CrossFit Games Qualifier