JF:
First of all Craig, I’d like to thank you for agreeing to do this
interview. To introduce yourself to our readers could you tell us a
little about your background?

CB:

I’m a strength coach (CSCS) in Toronto and I write for Men's Health,
Oxygen, and Maximum Fitness magazines. I have worked extensively with
young athletes and I train 3 of the players on Canada’s National Rugby
team.

I’ve also developed my own training system that has been featured in the magazines, and I call it Turbulence Training (www.TurbulenceTraining.com). The goal is to get maximum results in minimum time, no matter what the goal (mass, fat loss, or athleticism).

Turbulence Training (TT) uses a combination of the basic, most effective lifts,
structured in time-saving supersets, as well as interval training. It’s
based on research, but I’m not going to claim that it’s any magic
secret or rocket science. It is simply about getting things done
quickly in a logical order. It’s amazing how complex some trainers have
made training when it is generally such a simple process to achieve
your goals.

Men and women looking to lose
fat love it because it fits their often hectic schedules. Three
45-minute strength & interval sessions for fat loss are a lot
easier to fit in rather than five 1-hour cardio sessions. And the
bodyweight workouts I have, you can get done in the time it usually
takes you to get to the gym and back.

JF:
Your Turbulence Training system is one of the most effective training
systems I have ever seen. Could you briefly describe the thought
process that went into creating Turbulence Training and what makes it
so effective and time efficient?

CB:
In grad school, when I had no time to train, I had to find a way to get results, fast.

That’s
what almost everyone wants and needs these days, and it doesn’t matter
if they want to gain muscle or lose fat. I was working 15-16 hours in
the lab but still trying to get in my workouts. I realized that I
couldn’t do marathon sessions, but I wasn’t about to sacrifice muscle
or get fat.

Fortunately, the results of
my training studies along with my review of some other research
studies, confirmed my experiences that high-intensity training was the
way to go. Use only squats, deadlifts, presses, split squats, rows, and
similar exercises to get the maximum results in minimum time.

By
training with multiple sets of low reps (6-8), and using intervals, you
apply the most metabolic turbulence to the muscles. That burns a ton of
fat and calories in the workout, and after. That is the key. Light
weight, high reps, and slow-steady cardio don’t cause you to keep
burning a lot of calories after the workout. And this approach also
helps you do the next to impossible; gain lean mass while losing fat.

Another
important component of TT is variety. I change the workouts frequently,
every 3-4 weeks. That means rotating the exercises, putting in new
variations (you can still create an endless number of workouts with
variations on the basic lifts, as well as the advanced bodyweight
exercises).

That’s the nuts and bolts of my Turbulence Training philosophy.

JF: I know you are a big fan of interval training. What are your favorite methods of interval training?

CB:
Sprinting
is the best method, without a doubt. So whether it’s running intervals
on the track, uphill sprints, or treadmill running, that’s clearly the
most effective method. Moving your own bodyweight over a distance is
the true definition of work, and that can be done at a high intensity.

Strongman
methods are also top-notch. Pushing the truck, pulling the sled,
flipping the tire, these are all great ways to do your interval
training.

A little word of caution here
though, as both sprinting and strongman training methods can be very
intense, so you do need to warm-up more than adequately. Don’t just
jump into sprinting outside or you could strain a muscle. And be
conservative with the volume. If you haven’t done truck pushing
intervals in 6 months, or ever, don’t do 5 or 6 of them because you’ll
be puking your guts out. That being said, both of these methods are
great because you are doing a lot of work in a short amount of time.

My
next two favorite methods are bodyweight training and cycling. Both can
be done with less need for an extensive warm-up, but both will really
help you slash the fat.

I’ve been on a big
bodyweight kick over the past year and it includes some very tough
bodyweight interval circuits. It’s great “real-world” conditioning for
athletes, and everyday people. The bodyweight workouts and circuits can
be humbling, but build “everyday” strength.

I’m
also partial to stationary cycling. Because you are cycling against a
resistance you can do a lot of work. Doing a lot of high-intensity work
means burning a lot of energy during the training the session and after
(what I call putting your body into Turbulence). Just be careful with
overuse injuries on the bike…as being in that hunched position can be
rough on the low-back and can tighten up the psoas and rectus femoris
muscles.

Rowing is okay for interval
training. And simple walking at faster speeds or inclines is perfect
for beginners. Remember that interval training is relative. What is an
interval for me might not be an interval for you, or for Lance
Armstrong.

Elliptical training machines
are useless for intervals. These things are one of the biggest wastes
of space in commercial gyms today.

As far
as timing goes, there is no one best interval length for fat loss. I
use everything from 20 seconds to 3 minutes for the length of the work
interval. For the shorter sprints, I use 60-90 seconds rest, and for
the longer aerobic intervals (i.e. 2-3 minutes) you would rest an equal
amount of time as the work interval lasted. These are excellent not
only for fat burning but for improving sport-specific conditioning.

One
thing that has never made sense to me is the Tabata protocol for
intervals (and if you don’t know what it is, don’t worry about it). The
rest intervals are too short to allow high quality work…and that’s what
Turbulence Training is all about – quality over quantity.

JF:
Why is interval training so much more effective than regular steady state cardio?

CB:
Many reasons. But specfically, we choose quality over quantity.

1. It’s
   at least 200% more efficient, if not more. You can get the same or
   better fitness and fat loss improvements in half the time.
2. It
   builds real-world fitness. How many times each week do you do a
   20-second stair climb? Compare that to how many times you run 30
   minutes continuously (not including training)? The fact is life
   activities are short bursts of intensity, not long, slow bouts of
   continuous activity. The same can be said for most sports. So it
   quickly becomes clear which training method is better.
3. Intervals build anaerobic and aerobic fitness. Cardio builds only aerobic fitness.
4. Intervals
   build sport-specific fitness. Put a typical marathon runner on the
   basketball court and he’ll get beaten every time because he doesn’t
   have sport-specific fitness.
5. The health
   benefits of interval training are the same as you get from traditional
   cardio training. But again, the workouts are shorter.

JF: You favor a rep scheme that is lower than most typical fat loss programs. Could you explain why this is?

CB:
When
you diet, you have to give your muscles a powerful stimulus to grow or
maintain their current size. If you train with light weight and high
reps, you don’t stimulate muscle growth and you don’t hit as many
muscle fibers. The result will be a loss in muscle mass.

So
in the TT workouts, we work in the 6-8 rep range for the first two
supersets. The third and final superset of the workouts will often use
10-12 reps in order to stress all the metabolic processes in the
muscle. That means the most “turbulence” and the most calories burned
in and out of the training session.

JF: How much time does some one need to dedicate to training each week to achieve a great physique?

CB:

Fortunately not as much as most people think. You can do really well
with 3 hours of structured training. However, you have to live the fat
loss lifestyle for 167.5 hours per week (allowing 30 minutes per week
for a “cheat” meal).

If you pick
efficient lifts (like squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows), you don’t
need to lift more than 1-2 hours per week for fat loss. And you can get
great interval training results in three 20-minute sessions. Then you
just have to concentrate on your nutrition. Plan ahead, shop correctly,
and prepare your meals in advance.

For
mass, cut out the intervals, do 4 sessions of 45 minutes per week, and
you’re set. Spend the rest of the time concentrating on your
muscle-building nutrition.

JF: What are the two or three biggest mistakes most people make in their quest to lose bodyfat?

CB:

Following politically-correct workouts and nutrition programs. By that
I mean, slow-cardio marathon sessions followed by light weight, high
rep weight training. Fortunately, there are a lot of great Internet
sites giving good info for men, and even the magazines are catching on
and giving good programs.

Unfortunately,
women still get terrible fitness advice (one of the recommendations
that upsets me the most is the suggestion to lift soup cans or water
bottles – like that is going to help any woman under the age of 75).

As
far as nutrition goes, the politically-correct recommendations still
include a lot of carbohydrates, and generally these articles don’t even
recommend the right carbohydrates. If you want to lose fat fast, get
carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables first. These should be eaten
at every meal. Cereal bars, rice cakes, and juices have no place on any
weight loss program, if you want the weight lost to be fat.

JF: There’s six weeks left until the fourth of July; in that time how big of a difference can some one make in their physique?

CB: If
someone knows what they are doing, or trains with someone that knows
what they are doing, they can make incredible changes. Just look at
bodybuilders. Look at the difference they make in 6 weeks. But again,
they aren’t following politically correct recommendations. Don’t get me
wrong though, just because you aren’t doing the politically-correct
weight watchers diet doesn’t mean that you are doing anything
unhealthy.

So in my opinion, both
beginners and advanced physiques can make dramatic changes in their
bodies in only 6 weeks. Overweight guys that eat like crap can probably
lose 20-30 pounds of fat if they turn things around dramatically. And
any guy that is around 15-18% body fat can develop an incredible set of
abs and hit single-digit body fat in only 6 weeks.

JF: Where can people read more about you and your training methods? Do you have any new projects, etc.?

CB:
I
have lot’s of big projects coming up, Jay. And I could go on forever
about this stuff, so if your readers have questions, feel free to
contact me through my site.

I keep on adding programs to my member’s section at www.TurbulenceTraining.com
and I’ll be focusing on more hardcore fat loss workouts,
muscle-building programs, and my bodyweight training pet projects.
Seems like the hardcore fat loss programs are in greatest demand, so
I’m working on those right now.

So all that, and I plan to continue taking Turbulence Training to the masses to help people get more results in less time.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training