Everyone wants to know the secret to losing weight or more correctly stated, how to lose fat. 

The secret to losing weight is realizing that there are no secrets. There is an eating plan that facilitates weight loss, and there is an exercise plan that facilitates weight loss.

So what are your options for losing weight and what is the most effective weight loss protocol, the one that gives you the most bang for your buck and time?

Let's look a couple of the more popular protocols for losing weight.

The most popular activity by far for losing weight is of course walking and running.

Although running has been equated with fitness for decades, the truth is finally coming out on the many downsides to running.

Even Kenneth H. Cooper M.D. who coined the term "aerobics" back in 1968, pondered in his book Antioxidant Revolution (1994) if it was possible that excessive exercise might not only be unnecessary, but might even be harmful.

There are serious drawbacks to using running as a weight loss protocol for the overweight, deconditioned individual.

• Lax joints are very susceptible to injury from the pounding of running while carrying extra weight.
• Running is very uncomfortable when overweight.
• Contrary to what you've been led to believe, running is not very effective at tapping into the fat stores during the initial 30 - 45 minutes (which is the average amount of time spent on cardio equipment)
• Running does little for strengthening and toning the upper body .
• Repetitive exercise leads to overuse syndrome. Running one mile will burn somewhere between 100 to 130 calories or so based on your weight and other factors. But do you realize that you will be subjecting your joints to 1000 to 3000 plyometric reps at 2 - 4 times your bodyweight.

Yes if you have time to run everyday for a couple of hours, the sheer volume of exercise will eventually burn enough calories to drop weight but at the expense of time, muscle wasting, overuse syndrome etc.

We have forgotten that the sprinters look much healthier, not emaciated like long distance runners, and they perform about a zillionth of the work!

What about "aerobics"?..........

"Aerobics" simply does not access the fat burning system in the typical times spent by exercisers. If you take a short walk and are somewhat overweight, you may begin tapping into the fat stores for energy after a half hour. More typically, it is 45 minutes before you even begin to burn fat. Most people who walk for their workouts go on walks of a half hour  to an hour duration just long enough to lower sugar and glycogen reserves, but not long enough to burn meaningful amounts of fat. Even jogging has to be done for a long time before one shifts significantly into a fat burning pathway.

If "aerobics" worked everyone who joins a gym should be in shape within a few months. After all with the endless array of "aerobics" classes and cardio equipment available, everyone should be losing weight  easily.

There are many variations of running and "aerobics" such as "boot camp" and "combat fighting" type classes but nothing will shed maximum fat in minimum time as effectively as high intensity strength training and interval training. Most of these classes are not designed to be entry level classes and are just to overwhelming for the de-conditioned person, driving them away from exercising.

The reason resistance training is so effctive? It is all about building muscle. Building just one pound of muscle is the equivalent of running miles and miles every day.

An interesting fact is that it takes nearly 50,000 extra calories (over and above the caloric needs of daily activities plus working out) to build a pound of muscle. Those calories are simply the energy demand (ATP-ADP exchange) required metabolically to build muscle. A high intensity muscle building workout regimen can easily demand between 1500 and 3000 extra calories a day, and that is seven days a week, not just the days on which we exercise.

If you are overweight and have joint issues, the safe, prudent, more comfortable approach to a healthier and shaplier body is through resistance training.

But you say how can I possibly begin high intensity training if I am out of shape?

This is where 2DF comes in, presenting a system that transitions you slowly using exercises that are appropriate and effective for your fitness level. Keep in mind what is intense for you will not be the same as for some one else.

Unfortunately you have been misinformed on how much exercise is required or needed to stimulate and benefit you. One of the key principles of 2DF training is not to overtrain, allowing the body to 100% recover from each workout.

This has a very profound affect on your hormonal system such as cortisol and testosterone production allowing you to optimize the benefits of exercise.

Throughout our articles we will be explaining in detail why our 2DF system works so well, presenting all the latest research on how the overtraining phenomena that is prevalent in our society is keeping you from benefitting from exercise.

Follow our articles weekly, watch the video presentations and be prepared to be educated on what really works short term and long term. This information  is practical and based in science not propoganda and mythology.

We are passionate about what we do and we hope that some of that passion for staying healthy and fit will filter into you and out into the lives of others. 

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