I have talked with Jamie Hale in the past with a great interview that you can find here, but first a bit of an introduction for those who are new to the name.

Jamie Hale is one smart guy, sometimes he will say something and I think “man, when am I going to be able to think like that?” He recently gave me an article called “Exploding Fat Loss Myths” in which Jamie hits on some various fat loss topics. Well, you know me and how I love my fat loss, so what we are going to do is focus on one myth at a time and discuss some of the genius or, for some, downright decipher that is Hale. This might be a bit “heavy” for some, but I am going to lay it out in the following discussion. It should be fun!

(If you get lost just hang on till the end. It will all be explained.)

Exploding Fat Loss Myth #1

Jamie Hale-Claim: To remove body fat you need to use it as fuel. The muscle fibers that are fueled by fat (’slow twitch’ fibers) are the ones that produce easy movements.

Jamie Hale-Status: You don’t have to learn how to use fuel. Are you aware that you’re burning fuel 24 hours per day? When you’re sitting doing absolutely nothing you are burning fuel. Many tissues can use free fatty acids for fuel, not just slow twitch muscle fibers. Losing body fat relies on way more than just the activity of the slow twitch muscle fibers (how about cal deficit).

Using slow twitch muscle fibers nervous stimulation is required (CNS requires cals although not fat calories). High-intensity exercise often results in a lower RQ (indicating higher proportion of fat) than a low intensity exercise post-workout. Below is a brief description of what occurs during mobilization of stored fat and oxidation of fatty acids via an excerpt from Fat Burning How it Works by Jamie Hale. I also added a few additional comments to make the information more precise.

- Bodies have two major stores of fat that provide energy. Those are 1) adipose tissue 2) intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG).

- Adipose tissue stores fat in the form of triglyceride (triacylglycerols). TG is composed of a glycerol backbone with three FFA attached to it.

- IMTG are droplets of fat stored within the muscle fiber.

- IMTG are contained within the muscle and can be used directly, FFA from adipose tissue must be carried through the bloodstream to the muscles to be used for energy.

- Fats are broken down to fatty acids and glycerol. Glycerol enters the glycolytic/glucogenic pathway via glyceraldehyde 3 phosphate (can be used to from TAG in liver as well). The free fatty acids move through the cell membrane of adipocyte, and bind to albumin in plasma. They are then transported to tissue where they enter cells. Keep in mind regardless of FFA blood levels the brain (although the brain can use ketone bodies) and erythocytes cannot use free fatty acids for energy. Breakdown of TG is initiated by HSL (hormone sensitive lipase), which is primarily influenced by insulin, and the catecholamines. HSL removes a fatty acid from carbon 1 and or 3 of TAG. Additional lipases including Diacyclglycerol and Monoacylglycerol remove the remaining fatty acids (Harvey & Champe 2005).

Adrenaline and nor adrenaline bind to beta-adrenergic receptors in fat cells stimulating HSL causing FFA release

FFA is burned in the mitochondria to produce ATP and acetyl-CoA

Okay don’t freak out! He does this; it’s part of his charm.

What is the above explaining, what is it saying?

First the claim…

The claim says that it’s best to burn fat by usage of slow twitch muscle fibers. So the best way to understand why this is said is to look at the difference in muscle fibers.

Muscle fiber types are in two main types: slow twitch (Type I) and fast twitch (Type II). Fast twitch fibers can be further separated into Type II (a) and Type II(b). Each body is set up with certain amount of each of these fibers.

Each kind of muscle fiber has a preferred fuel system. Short-twitch fibers are more oxygen-based and endurance-driven. The lower level of intensity, the more you are using your slow-twitch muscle fibers. Slow-twitch provides more energy per unit of fuel and allows the use of multiple types of fuel (fats, lactate,glucose). Mostly though, free fatty acids are the energy source for slow-twitch muscle fibers.

In the fast-twitch fibers the reverse is true with little to no oxygen and glycogen (stored carbohydrates) being the main source of fuel.

So in short, walking uses fat as fuel, fast running uses more glycogen (stored carbs) as fuel. Makes sense?

Now the claim is since this is the case, doesn’t this mean that we should only worry about training in a slow-twitch zone if fat loss is the goal?

This is the common myth that Jamie is, very technically, debunking. And let’s be clear, this is science, this isn’t Jamie’s opinion. He has explained it in the technically scientific way, and I am just translating the technical.

Moving on…

Question? If you are in a deficit and have nothing but stores to go to period, wouldn’t almost any training you do be a fat burning zone? If you said “yes,” you would be right. A deficit is the ultimate decider or fuel burning fate, or more so quantity of that fuel. Ideally, fast- and slow-twitch muscle work off of a preferred fuel source but, in the end, the body is going to take what it needs from where it can get it.

Doesn’t this by the way bring up a great scientific point of why it’s pretty dumb to continuously do high interval training on very low carb diets? Just wanted to throw that out there.

The last part of Jamie’s Input is simply him explaining how stored fat gets from point storage to point burn. If you want to look up the long words go right ahead, but I can make it really simple for you.

-When you stop using what is running through your system in food just eaten, when you have to go into storage, this process begins.

-Depending on what you are doing and how aggressive it is what gets “first dibs” as far as fuel usage goes.

-Glycogen (stored carbs) will deplete much faster than Fat (stored fat).

-At some point if training long enough or in enough of a deficit you will be burning into stored fat. The funny thing is, with no stored glycogen going on your intensity is going to be pretty low anyway. So keep that in mind.

-In the end it doesn’t matter what kind of training you are doing when it comes to fat loss, you have to hit negative to get to the fat. It doesn’t matter if that negative is in sleep or while walking your dog, the process of utilizing fuel from stored fat has to happen to use fat and it doesn’t require any type of muscle usage or zone to burn it if you’re in deficit.

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To find out more information and to pick up the latest book by Coach Hale go here.

If you need someone to help you explain all this craziness and take out the bull swing by here! I think they’ll look good together.