You don’t have to exercise 4 hours a day.
“Any time your body has to venture outside of its homeostatic norm and make micro adjustments it will burn calories.”-Ben Greenfield
The Cheat Sheet:
- Why adding a cool shower can help you burn fat.
- Shivering boosts your metabolism by 300%: true or false?
- How does wi-fi interfere with your metabolic rate?
- Can posture and breathing impact how many calories you burn?
- What is caloric hyper-compensation and why should you know about it?
- And so much more…
Is it really possible to burn fat, without spending half your day at the gym? And do those electrical impulse ab machines you see on infomercials actually work?
Here to answer both of those questions and to give us the low-down on how to burn fat without exercising the easiest and healthiest way is Ben Greenfield. Ben and I chat about all of that and more on episode 369 of The Art of Charm.
More About This Show:
If you don’t know who Ben is and you missed his previous appearance on The Art of Charm, check it out here. You’ll hear who Ben is and the simple ways he helps people achieve their lifestyle goals, beyond the norm of healthy eating and exercise. And one look at Ben and you’ll know he practices what he preaches.
On today’s show Ben and I talk about his biohacking tips and suggestions for how to burn fat during your day, without adding complex exercises or another two hours on to your gym routine.
His first tip is to add cooling garments to your regular wardrobe. Don’t take one of those ice packs you bought at the pharmacy, they have chemicals in them that can burn your skin. Instead Ben recommends cold packs from Onnit. The link is below the notes.
When you wear those during your day your body has to burn more calories to keep you warm and get back to your body’s normal temperature of 98.6 degrees. Keep the cold packs on your body for 30-60 minutes a day. Be sure to do some kind of work that isn’t too mentally taxing because you will shiver and you will be a bit distracted.
You can jack up your metabolism even more by strategically placing the cold packs on areas that have more brown adipose tissue (sometimes called brown fat). Your stomach (if you have some extra fat there) is a good example.
A second suggestion he has is to do short bursts of exercise throughout your day, things like pull-ups, air squats, or kettle bells. If you have an office where you can shut the door you can do any of these things. Set a rule that for every 25 minutes of work you’ll do 20 push-ups, or something of that nature.
If you work in a cubicle and can’t have any privacy while working, do 25 air squats in the bathroom stall every time you use it. If you make 4 trips during an entire day you’ve just done 100 squats. You’ll see the difference quickly, just be sure to count your squats silently!
Now if we’re talking next to no effort, Ben has plenty of suggestions including deep breathing from your diaphragm, sitting upright with proper posture and even the electric ab muscle machines you see on TV. He explains which type of machine you need (EMS, which stand for electrical muscle stimulator) and how even NFL athletes use these, sometimes for their entire work out.
Ben gives us TONS more, you’ll want to have something handy to jot all this down. Have a listen to get it all on today’s show. Then join me in thanking Ben for his second appearance on the show and as always, thank you for being here. We’ll see you next time.
THANKS BEN GREENFIELD!
Resources from this episode:
Ben Greenfield’s web site
Ben’s previous visit to The Art of Charm, episode 259
CoolFatBurner
Ben’s treadmill/standing desk recommendations
Compex, Ben’s EMS recommendation
Nature Beat, how Ben monitors his breathing and stress level
Onnit’s sandbags
Hyperwear weighted vest
Perfect Pullup bar
The Art of Charm bootcamps
You’ll also like:
-The Art of Charm Toolbox
-Best of The Art of Charm Podcast
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