Article, Are You Applying the 5 And 5 Rule? By Mark Woodgate, Manager and Owner of Bay Bodyfit Health and Fitness Centre, Mt Maunganui, New Zealand, NZ.

Are You Applying the '5 and 5' Rule?

the 5 and 5 rule

-By Mark Woodgate

(Owner/ Manager of Bay Bodyfit Health & Fitness Centre,
Fitness Director of Body Blueprint Personal Training)

What is the "5 and 5" rule?

Quite simply, it's the recommendation to eat 5 times per day and work out 5 times per week... 5 is the magic number!

Why eat 5 times per day?

It all comes down to your body's metabolism or the rate at which you burn calories. Eating frequent small meals raises your body's metabolic rate - turning your body into a fat burning furnace! One example I often use with my clients is when you light a fire. If you regulary add fuel to the fire, the fire keeps burning. Similarly, if you wait too long before adding fuel to the fire, the fire simply burns out. So it is with the body's metabolism. If you only eat 1 or 2 large meals per day your insulin levels spike (resulting in a short burst of energy) followed by a rapid decline in blood sugar levels and low energy. A classic example of this is the afternoon 'lull' which is usually the result of skipping breakfast and compensating with a high calorie lunch...

If you want to burn bodyfat all day long and have consistent energy levels throughout the day, eat small and often. 5 times per day is optimum. For example, your meal and snack times on an average day might look as follows:

7.00am : Breakfast

10.00am : Morning snack

1.00pm : Lunch

4.00pm : Afternoon snack

7.00pm : Dinner

Just as important as eating small and often is to remember to include some of form of protein with every meal/ snack - such as raw nuts, cottage cheese, hummus, tuna, salmon, chicken, fish, whey protein powder. By eating protein every 2-3 hours you'll burn calories faster than carbohydrate only meals. It all has to do with the thermic effect. In essence, the body has to expend more energy to burn protein than it does carbohydrates or fat. (If you're struggling to lose weight, this tip alone is worth it's weight in gold...)

Why work out 5 times per week?

Just as how often you eat and the type of food you choose impacts on the body's metabolism, so does the frequency and the type of workout you choose.

It's been discovered that certain types of training (specifically interval training ) elevate the body's metabolism for up to 48 hours after the workout itself. In other words, when these training methods are employed, you'll continue to burn calories at a much faster rate long after you've completed the workout itself.

For example, someone who exercises for only 2 days per week as opposed to someone who works 5 days per week, would not experience the kind of metabolic 'overdrive' as the latter.

If you're wanting to change your body composition (less bodyfat and more muscle tone) the body responds best to a balance of resistance training and cardio. Also, to allow sufficient time for muscle recovery it is recommended to train with weights no more than every 48 hours.

A sample week's workouts might look as follows:

Mon: Resistance training + cardio

Tues: Cardio only

Wed: Resistance training + cardio

Thur: Cardio only

Fri: Resistance training + cardio

Sat: Rest

Sun: Rest

Interestingly, the A.C.S.M. (American College of Sports Medicine) has recently determined that the desired number of training sessions per week for optimum health is also...5.

Conclusion: When you consistently apply the 5 and 5 rule, you'll notice considerable changes in your body composition and fitness levels on an ongoing basis!

Mark Woodgate is a leading New Zealand personal trainer. He has successfully transformed thousands of people thanks to his revolutionary ‘quality versus quantity’ training principles.