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How To Get to 8% Body Fat…And Stay There

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How To Get to 8% Body Fat…And Stay There

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To command your respect and hold your attention, I will use big words. And if the desired effect is achieved, you will likely finish this piece thinking you have arrived somewhere in luxury.

For many years now I have beseeched some of the more celebrated wizards of the natural sciences for samplings of their incalculable wisdom, and they have bestowed upon me, most graciously, the secrets behind their biological sorcery—that is, the key to deciphering the riddles of leanness and muscularity. The most enviable of all human forms, indeed is it not?

Now I have experimented in various directions with this sorcery upon the author of this piece, that is, conducting countless experiments upon myself, done mostly in my underpants and long after my keeper has left the grounds.

To name a few: I have danced with the devils of ketosis, boogied with the preachers of starvation (short-term, of course), and partied with the high-priests of Paleo.

But before I venture any further, I offer a few figures and disclosures:

1. I last clocked in at 6.4% body fat via a 7-point caliper test. As this device is rarely precise down to the exact percentile, I recognize I may be higher up into the eights, or down lower maybe even. Whatever.

2. I take no fat burners or drugs of any kind (less you count chicken), only the following supplements: creatine monohydrate (5 grams daily), organic whey protein concentrate, green tea, fish oil, zma, and an organic greens shake.

3. Having six pack abs does not make you a fitness expert, nor does it make you a good coach. It does not gain you entry into heaven, nor does it protect you from bullets, taxes, or hepatitis C. It does not mean you’re healthy—doesn’t even mean you’re fit, necessarily. All you can assume from six pack abs is that the bearer has a low-enough body fat and an amply muscled midsection. That’s it.

I should tell you, however, that when you seek out six pack abs you learn lessons that can be learned no other way. Mine were:

1. If I go below 100 grams of carbs per day, I am likely to scalp someone, burn my house down, or commit some other wholly unreasonable act of unpredictable violence. Once, while in ketosis, I chased a man up a tree, and kept him there for three months.

2. The only PROVEN effective method to lose weight is to spend more calories than you save. So I figure if Americans could just figure out a way to swap their eating habits for their money habits, then everyone would be much richer and far less fat. Someday, maybe.

So, if you’ll permit me, I’d like to show you how I do it—how to get to 8% bodyfat, and stay there—less of course you be a lady, then 8% is far too low, so let us instead shoot for the mid to high teens—if that be the case.

How to Eat for Six Pack Abs

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I guess you could call me paleo-esque. I do not eat grains*, really. Wait, never mind, yes I do. White rice is a grain, and I eat that. I also eat white potatoes. Some would call this heresy*, but that’s OK.

* SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Grain eating may be hazardous to your health—dangerous to you and others around you, and will likely result in a slow, agonizing death—and there is loose evidence to suggest that that is not the worst, but that when you wake up on the other side, Satan himself will take you by the hand and personally escort you to the farthest back corner of hell—a place too gracious even for perjurers, adulterers, and mobsters—to have your legs boiled in molten sulfur for one billion calendar years.

You see, I really have every natural disadvantage when it comes to being lean—both congenital and acquired. My family is mostly overweight, and I am Irish—which means I like to drink whiskey, and my friends tell me I’m very good at it. But I have learned to restrict my drinking to only the days that come after yesterday. Occasionally I slip up, but one does what one can. [Editor’s Note: There was no point to this paragraph, and it probably should have been deleted.]

On non-training days, I typically keep my carbs at or around 100 grams, the lowest I can go before violence. My carbs come mostly from things that are green and leafy, berries, and the occasional sweet potato. On training days I will bump my carbs up by 50-100grams, sometimes higher. I will have my largest and carb heaviest meal post workout, and this is when I will have white rice or white potatoes. I think the white starchy carbs make for a lovely post workout addition.

To accumulate a calorie deficit, I fast. For this, I (one) fast for 24 hours 1x a week and (two) fast every day until about one or two o’clock. Since I train in the mornings, my first meal of the day is typically my post-workout meal, and it is large and exciting and I would never think to share it anyone—not even Mother, a critter to which I am emotionally susceptible.

If I feel like I’m going too far into the negative, which happens on occasion, I add breakfast back in, or take out the full fasting day.

How to Train for Six Pack Abs

In my last article I talked largely upon the benefits of metabolic conditioning—specifically kettlebell complex training—for augmenting work capacity. But I forget now if I mentioned the other benefit of high intensity complex training, that is, how it melts fat like raw meat on a hot grill.

Aside from sprinting, I do not run. I do not enjoy it. And because I do not enjoy it, I do not like doing it, because I do not like doing things that I do not enjoy, if you can believe it.

What I do enjoy is low-rep strength work approximately four days a week, high intensity metabolic conditioning two to three days a week, and low-intensity cardiovascular activities as often as possible. This is the philosophy behind my Birth of a Hero program, and it is a potent fat burner.

Allow me to expand upon this.

I train strength, on the main, four days a week. My current split is Monday, Tues, Thurs, Fri.

I work three-month cycles, but I do not wave the load, least not in the traditional sense. Instead, I begin each cycle with a “heavy load” (something that challenges me for 1-5 reps). I keep that load constant for three months. By the end of which, hopefully, it has become a “moderate to light load”, because I have grown stronger. Therefore, I have, in effective, “waved the load,” by not waving it at all. Voilá!

Currently, I am training mostly bodyweight and gymnastic style movements, such as the muscle up and the pistol squat.

 

 

I follow a rep scheme of 1,2,3,1,2,3 for every lift I do—a classic gymnastics style rep/set structure. For three months, there is no variation, not even when it starts to feel “easy”. When three months have passed, I bump the weight back up to a “heavy load”— or, in the case of bodyweight training, move onto a more difficult progression—and repeat the cycle.

[I’m not going to just give away the full program, but if you’d like it online coaching, and are willing to pay for it, then please email me at PatFlynn@ChroniclesOfStrength.com with the subject line of “I’m Not a Cheap Ass.” It’s expensive, but I’ve heard it’s worth it.]

Two days a week I add in metabolic conditioning via kettlebell complex training (typically on Mondays and Fridays). If I’m feeling spunky, I’ll make it three (or perform a metric crap ton of kettlebell swings intermittently throughout the week). This comes after my strength training, never before. I keep my complex work diverse—sometimes double bell, sometimes single bell, sometimes heavy, sometimes light. Inefficiency is your friend here and offers the refreshment of variety.

If you’d like some ideas, I have a free eBook on 101 Kettlebell Complexes that you can download HERE. It’s a gift, don’t worry about it.

Finally, I keep on the move as much as I can. Super-low-intensity stuff, lots of walking and hiking, especially on the weekends. Fasted hiking is a sneaky way to cut off that last bit of stubborn fat. I oftentimes bring along my trusty St. Bernard, Lola, for guidance and good humor.

Lola

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Concluding Thoughts

There are a great many articles out there on how to get lean from people who have tried but did not succeed, even more from those who have never bothered to try at all but just wanted to talk about it anyways. I just wanted to be a little different, that’s all.
–    Pat
PS – If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments or come say hi on Facebook.

***

About Pat Flynn, RKC: Pat Flynn is a certified Russian Kettlebell Challenge instructor, fitness philosopher, and 7th degree blackbelt in hanging out. Pat is the founder of ChroniclesOfStrength.com where he talks mostly on how to chop fat and multiply muscle through kettlebell complex training.

The 9-Minute Kettlebell Complex From Hell

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patflynn1

Complex creation is a delicate art. If not constructed thoughtfully and with a proper understanding of the primary function of the thing itself, you will not have a complex. You will have tapioca. You will be assiduously chugging your way through, sweat beating off your brow, optimistically thinking you’re going to make it, and then, out of nowhere, it hits you with the double snatch and there you are.

I employ kettlebell complexes for the singular function of augmenting metabolic capacity, and I would argue that that is how everyone ought to employ them.

Fatigue is not desired when training strength, as we’ve come to know. But when conditioning yourself, metabolically or otherwise, fatigue is nearly inevitable. To understand this is to know that if we wish to increase the efficient delivery of the metabolic pathways, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, we must then impose a demand upon them blah, blah, blah, blah, blah , law of adaptation, blah, blah, blah. That is, if we wish to NOT get tired so quickly, then we have to make a habit out of tiring ourselves, from time to time.

And it is here that I admit even Crossfit has gained an elementary understanding. What they have failed to understand, however, is that capacity training does not need to be so complex or cluttered to be effective. There are perilous cracks in the system, you see—the inclusion of high rep Olympic lifting is demonstrative of this, and is in large part why I am naturally hesitant to encourage anyone to partake in a Crossfit WOD, less I have something against them.

So, if fatigue is generally unavoidable with capacity training—which it is—then we ought to construct our complexes from movements that are not of such a high technical skill. But this is not to say from movements that are easy—oh no, no, no.

Let us take the swing for example. It is a relatively low skill movement, is it not? I mean, you throw your hips back and then blast ‘em forward like you’re really getting after something. But would you call this an “easy” movement? I certainly would not—even after all these years I still would not call it an “easy” movement. To this very day the swing still presents me with a considerable metabolic challenge. But, since it is of relatively low skill, proficiency may be maintained well into the higher repetitions. Thus, it makes for a safe and convenient component for complex construction.

The same can be said of all the fundamental kettlebell movements, really. Yes, even the snatch. While the “czar of all kettlebell lifts” may be technically more demanding than the swing, it is still a relatively low-skill movement—particularly when compared to something like the barbell snatch.

This is why I fancy the kettlebell for metabolic training to the extent that I do. The movements are comparatively “low-skill” yet remain “high-demand”, not to mention friendlier on the joints than say kipping pull ups or box jumps (both of which are rubbish for capacity training, if you ask me).

Remember, the objective of metabolic conditioning is simply to keep the system as a whole under a prolonged period of stress (the heart, lungs, kidneys, etc) while cycling through various muscle groups and energy systems. This takes a special kind of conditioning to endure, specifically, it is what Arthur Jones referred to as “the metabolic condition”. This is to say that it takes metabolic conditioning to develop “the metabolic condition”. And what I’m saying is this can be achieved conveniently, cleanly, and safely through kettlebell complex training.

I have over at my website a library of metabolic conditioning complexes. I have even put together a free eBook of 101 of my favorite kettlebell complexes for blasting fat and boosting muscle. If you’re into this sort of thing, you may download it HERE.

But today, I wish to share with you one particularly heinous invention of mine.

Did I say invention? Because I did not mean to. No man is truly original—it is an impossible task, can’t be done. We are, in fact, congenitally incapable of origination, not a singular fleeting thought has ever truly been our own. We are ultimately all a function of our outside influences. Through these outside influences we may then make new associations and connections—if we are so able—and turn out innovation, but never, ever origination. We just can’t do it.

So I hereby concede that this is not my invention, simply my innovation. It is merely the consequence of what results when you enter the bathroom with Enter the Kettlebell in one hand, Dante’s Inferno in the other, and read them both in the very same session.

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There are a few prerequisites to this complex. The first of which, is that you must own the technique of the all the collective kettlebell techniques individually. That is, you must have proficiency in each movement by itself before you even think about stringing them together. Actually, that’s pretty much the only prerequisite.

There are also a few rules to this complex. The first is unbreakable, and that, of course, is to maintain safe form at all times. If form starts to go, put the bell down at once and rest for as long as necessary. The second is to maintain consistent form; meaning, as you grow more and more fatigued, you must diligently fight the urge to cheat reps—namely, cutting depth in the swing or the squat. I’d rather you rested and continued on with consistent form when you are able than to push through sloppily and disjointedly. Thirdly, work at a REASONABLE pace. Do NOT make an attempt to squeeze as many reps in per set as possible, as this will only lead to some really crappy movement. The idea here is not to try and set any records, just to keep moving the entire time with good form.

For the average male a 16kg or 20kg kettlebell will do fine. This may seem light, but just take my word on it for now. For the ladies, I’d recommend an 8kg or a 12kg.

The complex is as follows:

 The one arm swing (30 seconds left + 30 seconds right)

The high pull (30 seconds left + 30 seconds right)

The clean (30 seconds left + 30 seconds right)

The snatch (30 seconds left + 30 seconds right)

The reverse lunge (30 seconds left + 30 seconds right)

The military press (30 seconds left + 30 seconds right)

The two hand swing (30 seconds)

Four point plank (30 seconds)

The two hand swing (30 seconds)

Four point plank (30 seconds)

Push Up (30 seconds)

 

Hey, I guess that’s really only eight a half minutes. Go figure.

 

*The source of this complex at present remains unverified. It is likely that it is not actually from Hell as the author claims.

***

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Pat Flynn is the founder of Chronicles of Strength, publisher of the Chronicles of Strength Newsletter, and chief contributor to the Chronicles of Strength Inner Circle – a membership site dedicated to helping others grow strong(er) and get lean(er) through kettlebell training and primal fitness approaches. Pat is also the co-author of the upcoming book tentatively titled Paleo Fitness for Dummies.

But that is not the worst. Pat Flynn is also a certified Russian Kettlebell Challenge instructor, and other things of the sort. He talks mostly on how to chop fat and build muscle through kettlebell complex training.

He has an unrivaled capacity to think hard about himself for hours on end – and when at last he is exhausted of the subject matter, he is then in a condition to watch Matlock.

 

5 Kettlebell Complexes to Blast Fat and Boost Muscle

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Pat Flynn

The purpose of this article is to venture a few workout suggestions—that is, some of the dirtiest and the damnedest ever seen.

I, like most who are blessed with some form of attention disorder, suffer from a low adherence to unchallenging and uninteresting exercise programs. If there is any chance of me following a program with little deviation, then from time to time, I need to experience the rush of workout that redlines me.

To say it another way, I subscribe to the general theory that tough workouts are more fun.

Now to this, the critic may pose a question regarding effectiveness. What good is having fun in the weight room, if we have nothing to show for it aside from the short-lived euphoria of a mental lollypop and swampy undergarments?

And to this doubter, I would say touché! To forgo effectiveness for fun would surely flip us over the edge of reason. But to assert that fun and effective are mutually exclusive is an exhibition of broken logic.

Fun is subjective and unquantifiable. I mean, how does one measure fun? In oodles? Sure, that sounds kind of tasty, but there’s no such metric for evaluation, nor will there ever, because not everybody’s idea of fun is the same.

And to be fair, not everyone will find as much delight in the upcoming assignments as I. It just seems like (because it seems like is honestly the best approximation I got on this subject matter) that most, not all, but most, find tough to be more fun than easy.

I won’t speculate on the reasons why. I have shared my observations on what I believe to be true and will now show you how to add a little bourbon to the sauce of your training program.

These workouts (the bourbon), which you can plug into just about any conditioning slot in your training program (assuming you have one), will fortify your spirit, harden your muscle, and peel away body fat.

Let’s begin.

What Is Metabolic Conditioning

Metabolic conditioning is now a term familiar to many, and since there is little good purpose to be served by trotting an old horse once more around the track, I will only touch on this point lightly to familiarize any new recruits, and then refer out to more extensive works.

In short, metabolic conditioning is any exercise, or series of exercises, aimed at improving the efficiency at which your body stores and delivers energy for any given activity.[1]

Some of the best work I’ve found on metabolic conditioning comes from Arthur Jones, who arguably coined the term back in the 1970s. Jones, while working with a group of varsity football players at West Point, found that when he shortened the rest periods between exercises in a circuit, his cadets were unable to handle the metabolic demands—despite them being in good shape.

So what gives? Why were these strong and well-conditioned athletes experiencing rapid shutdown when rest was dramatically shortened or eliminated between exercises in a circuit?

Jones offered the following theory:

“If there is interest in totally unsupported theories, then I do have a theory… a theory that I have no great confidence in at this point; I think that the body may simply be unable to provide the required chemical changes that are necessary to work that hard for a prolonged period of time.  The required oxygen is available, and the circulatory system is capable of distributing it rapidly enough… the required nutrients are also available, but perhaps the body cannot provide the required metabolic changes at such a pace.”[2]

Jones continued to train his cadets in this fast-paced manner and concluded the following:

“Once a subject becomes capable of training in this fashion without going into shock as a result, then it becomes possible to work his muscles to a point of momentary failure while maintaining both the pulse rate and breathing at very high levels throughout the entire workout.  And, since it was impossible for the beginning trainee to work in this fashion, it is thus obvious that something besides strength and cardiovascular ability has been improved… the subject has also greatly improved his metabolic ability.

And just what advantage does such a factor give an athlete?  Well, how would a coach like to have a football team that literally did not require rest for a period of 30 minutes?  Such a team could return to scrimmage immediately without the necessity to huddle… thus giving their opponents no chance to rest.”[3]

For the entire collection of Arthur Jones notes on metabolic conditioning, I highly recommend that you head over to ArthurJonesExercise.com and read his full article on Flexibility and Metabolic Condition.[4]

The premise of metabolic conditioning is to marry strength and cardio. The goal is to keep the system under stress, and working as a whole for some prolonged period of time. The simplest way to do this is to string together a series of compound exercises, and presently I will show you how to achieve this effect through kettlebell complex training.

What Are Kettlebell Complexes?

For our purposes, complexes (specifically kettlebell complexes) are compound exercises to be performed successively and uninterruptedly.

Compound exercises, as you may well know, call upon the coordinated action of multiple muscle groups to move multiple joints through a range of motion simultaneously.

But to perform them successively and uninterruptedly means to string these exercises together and execute them without the luxury of rest.

Complexes can be performed with almost any implement or no implement at all. The kettlebell, however, lends itself uniquely to complex training. The compact nature of the implement, along with its offset center of gravity, encourages one to flow seamlessly from movement to movement. As the saying goes, you can’t swing a barbell between your legs.

Who Are Kettlebell Complexes For?

I play Tae Kwon Do. I competed throughout college, and many times was bested by a more skillful competitor. What I’ve learned from this sport is that sometimes you you will lose because someone is better than you and that’s OK.  It’s how you learn.

But never should you lose because someone is better conditioned than you.

That’s where kettlebell complex training comes in. My mentor, Brian Petty RKC, a lifelong fighter, once told me that kettlebell training is the closest thing you can get to fighting without throwing a punch. He explained to me that kettlebell complex training allows us to generate “high quality fatigue” and that the feeling of lactic acid flooding the system to the point of one feeling almost panicked, or poisoned even, is the reality of a physical confrontation. I agree on all points.

To understand why this is important is to know that a fight is often won in the last round, and when there are two competitors of equal skill, the winner is the one with greater strength and staying power.

I should also mention that when coupled with a workable diet, metabolic conditioning will melt fat like raw meat on a hot grill. This is how I keep under 8% body fat year round.

The great deal of stress and systemic fatigue generated from kettlebell complex training stokes the metabolic furnace, creates a large oxygen debt, and promises prolonged caloric after-burn. To understand this is to know why short and intense kettlebell complex training sessions are far more effective for melting fat than low-intensity aerobics ever were.

Into The Lungs of Hell

I believe kettlebell complexes are such handy fat-chopping devices that every fitness enthusiast should have at least five pegged to memory. Now I have more folders full of complexes than Romney has binders full of women, so if you’ll permit me, I’d like to offer a few up a few of my favorites.

The Great Destroyer

The Great Destroyer is like an extremely hot pepper. It’s both alluring and frightening. You want to taste it, but as soon as you do you regret it.

Once you run your first set of The Great Destroyer, I think this will strike you as a pretty good analogy.

The Great Destroyer Consists of the following:

Double Kettlebell Swing x 10 Reps
Double Kettlebell Snatch x 10 Reps
Double Kettlebell Front Squat x 10 Reps
Double Kettlebell Clean and Press x 10 reps
Push Ups x 10 Reps
Bent Over Rows x 10 Reps

Recommended Operating Weight:

Pair of 16kg or 20kg kettlebells for most males
Pair of 8kg or 12kg kettlebells for most females

 

 The Hellion

This single kettlebell complex is deceptively challenging. The fatigue, like a night prowler, creeps up and slams you unexpectedly.

Check it out, The Hellion goes like this:

Two Hand Swing
One Arm Swing (Left + Right)
Single Arm Kettlebell Thruster (Left + Right)

Start with two reps of each movement. Then, after your first cycle through, perform four reps of each movement. Continue to ladder up by two reps every cycle until you are performing a total of ten reps of each movement. Descend the ladder in the same fashion. 😀

Recommended Operating Weight:

One 16kg or 20kg kettlebell for most males
One 12kg or 16kg kettlebell for most females

 

Sequential Dismay

Imagine what it’d feel like to have a thousand cold knives slipped into your quads, twisted, and withdrawn. That’s Sequential Dismay.

The sequence of this complex is based off the Fibonacci series in reverse, starting from eight, and combines double kettlebells cleans and front squats.

In case you’re a little rusty on your logical sequences, Sequential Dismay looks like this:

Double Kettlebell Clean x 8 reps
Double Kettlebell Front Squat x 5 reps
Double Kettlebell Clean x 5 reps
Double Kettlebell Front Squat x 3 reps
Double Kettlebell Clean x 3 reps
Double kettlebell Front Squat x 2 reps
Double Kettlebell Clean x 2 reps
Double Kettlebell Front Squat x 1 rep

Recommended Operating Weight:

A pair of 20kg or 24kg kettlebells for most males
A pair of 12kg or 16kg kettlebells for most females

 

Fresh Off the Yacht

This type of complex should be made like biscuits: fresh every morning. Pick five single arm kettlebell exercises and perform five reps of each, back to back, with no rest. Once you’ve completed the series on one side, switch arms and repeat.

Here is just one recipe idea to get you started:

One Arm Swing x 5 Reps
One Arm Clean x 5 Reps
One Arm Snatch x 5 Reps
One Arm Jerk x 5 Reps
Reverse Lunge x 5 Reps

Recommended Operating Weight:

One 16kg or 20kg kettlebell for most males
One 12kg or 16kg kettlebell for most females

 

The Man Maker

I got this kettlebell “sandwich” idea from Jiu Jitsu champion Steve Maxwell, when he paired the double kettlebell clean with a push up on the handles.

I’ve since taken his original recipe, added a few ingredients, and turned it into a party-sub.

The sandwich reference indicates that there are two pieces of “bread” from which to load ingredients (exercises). For our purposes here, the bottom piece of bread is the double kettlebell snatch, and the top is the renegade row (a push-up on the handles of the bells paired with plank rows).

Begin by performing one rep of the double kettlebell snatch and the renegade row. Each cycle there after you will load one additional ingredient (one rep of one new exercise), and continue to cycle through, without rest, until you have constructed a 5-layer sandwich.

I believe an illustration of this monstrosity is obligatory:

Layer 1 – Double Snatch + Renegade Row

Layer 2 – Double Snatch + Double Press + Renegade Row

Layer 3 – Double Snatch + Double Press + Front Squat + Renegade Row

Layer 4 – Double Snatch + Double Press + Front Squat + Double Clean + Renegade Row

Layer 5 – Double Snatch + Double Press + Front Squat + Double Clean + Double Swing + Renegade Row

Perform only one rep of each exercise. No rest between layers.

Recommended Operating Weight:

A pair of 20kg kettlebells for most males
A pair of 12kg kettlebells for most females

 

Concluding Thoughts

Even at the risk of being overly repetitious, I’ll reiterate that these workouts are brandy to the sauce of ordinary conditioning routines. Just how too much booze ruins the sauce, these too can be overdone.

When applied judiciously, however, kettlebell complexes are marvelous, but the last thing I want to happen to anyone is to collapse in the midst of The Great Destroyer, with two bells overhead, like an overcooked soufflé.

Please lift responsibly.

–       Pat Flynn

PS – If you have any questions on how to work kettlebell complexes into your training routine, please drop them in the comment section below.

 About Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn is a certified Russian Kettlebell Challenge instructor, fitness philosopher, and 7th degree blackbelt in hanging out. Pat is the founder of ChroniclesOfStrength.com where he talks mostly on how to chop fat and multiply muscle through kettlebell complex training.

[1] Glassman, Greg (June 2003). “Metabolic Conditioning”. CrossFit Journal (10).