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The High Performance Journal - April 30th, 2024

Michael Phelps is a 23x Olympic gold medalist. You've probably heard of him.

Something you may not know about him is that when he's training he takes an average of 12,000 calories on a daily basis while looking like this:

While I'm not comparing you to one of the greatest Olympians of all time there is a fat loss method we can learn from Michael that you may not have heard about before.

It's called G-Flux and it might change your life.

What is G-Flux?

When you think about burning fat you usually hear the saying that, "abs are made in the kitchen" and that's partially true.

The fact is that physical activity still plays a large part in losing fat as well as keeping it off in the long term. 

The term G-flux refers to the "energy flux", which is about balancing the energy that comes in (calories eaten or drank) with the energy that comes out (calories burned).

Excerpt from Dr. John Berardi on G-Flux:

Take an individual eating 2000kcal a day and burning 2000kcal a day. That person wouldn’t likely lose or gain any weight. They’re in energy balance and that means they’d be weight stable.

Yet if we use the principles of G-Flux to boost this person’s food intake to 3000kcal a day and boost their calorie burning to 3000kcal a day, most would assume that the person wouldn’t change. They’d assume that the increased intake and expenditure would cancel each other out, right?

But researchers have shown that in such a situation there are increases in metabolic rate, losses of fat, and increases in lean mass! The weight might not always change but body comp certainly does. And that’s the power of G-Flux! Eat more, exercise more, build a better body.

In simple terms, G-Flux is about exercising more so that you can eat more and all the while improving metabolism​, ​muscle​, and ​body fat %​.

Benefits Of G-Flux

When G-flux is high, we can see benefits across the board:

• Improved insulin sensitivity
• Greater ability to maintain weight loss after a diet
• Increased lean mass (muscle), decreased fat mass
• Improved appetite regulation
• Increased metabolic rate
• Better recovery
• Improved Health
• Increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity
• Improved nutrient partitioning (how your body makes use of the nutrients from your food)
• Improved micronutrient delivery (ensuring vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients are delivered to the right places)

Picture taken from Precision Nutrition's article on G-Flux

Here's an ​article​ where you can see G-flux in action. Long story short, the subject was prepping for a bodybuilding contest and kept his calories the same while slowly increasing his physical activity.

He eventually won the contest and said it was the easiest prep he had ever done.

5 Ways To Improve Your G-Flux

#1 - Increase Your NEAT (non-exercise-related physical activity)

A simple way to do this is to increase your daily step count.

Walking is the simplest most accessible way to increase your G-flux that doesn't involve you going to a gym.

It also lowers cortisol levels and improves brain function, energy, and recovery while carrying a whole host of other benefits.

This is a big reason why we recommend 10k steps with our coaching clients​ and the ​Lean Body 90​.

#2 - Aim For 5 Hours Of Exercise A Week First. Then Ramp Up

If you're already doing this then great. If not, start here.

Ease into getting more activity and make sure your program has a mixture of high-intensity activities like strength circuits and ​recovery activities like walking​.

While you do this monitor your recovery. Each week check in with yourself based on how you feel.

Eventually, you want to slowly ramp up to a total of 7 hours of activity a week.

#3 - Slowly Increase Food Intake Or Physical Activity

If you're aiming for fat loss slowly increase your physical activity without increasing your food intake.

If you're aiming to build muscle keep your physical activity the same while increasing your food intake by 10%. Then ramp up physical activity based on how fast you're gaining weight.

#4 - Increase Protein intake

With the increase in physical activity, you want to eat the right amount of protein​ to sustain, if not, build muscle.

If your activity levels are increasing I'd suggest eating around 1 gram per pound of bodyweight in protein.

This will ensure you don't waste muscle while getting the hormonal benefits of a higher protein intake.

#5 - Add Some Form Of High-Intensity Cardio

Cardio activities like HIIT and sprinting are effective in both burning fat as well as ​improving your V02 max​.

In my weekly activity, I do at least one session a week of high-intensity cardio into my routine but this is completely optional depending on where you're starting from.

Example Of A Week Of A G-Flux Training Routine

Day 1 - Lower body weight training
Day 2 - Upper body weight training
Day 3 - Low-intensity recovery (Yoga, Pilates, hiking, walking, bike riding, etc.)
Day 4 - Lower body weight training
Day 5 - Upper body weight training
Day 6 - High-intensity cardio (sprints, rowing, biking, sports, etc.)
Day 7 - Low-intensity recovery (Yoga, Pilates, hiking, walking, bike riding, etc.)

This is a sample plan that I would use on myself or a client who's in good physical condition. If you're not starting with a base of cardio or physical activity I would pare this down based on your level.

The main idea is to spread the activity throughout the week and listen to your body. In other words, don't jump into this type of regime. Be smart and slowly ramp yourself up.

Potential Dangers Of The G-Flux Method

#1 - Overtraining

Moving more is beneficial but you don't want to overdo it. It's best to vary the types of exercise you do as well as monitor your body as you ramp up.

#2 - Obsession

There's an inherent danger to thinking that you always need to be active and moving. You want something like G-flux to fit into your lifestyle rather than something you have to force.

This is why I'm a big fan of doing types of exercise that don't feel forced. Things like watching Netflix shows on a treadmill or listening to podcasts or audiobooks while walking or playing sports I love are ways I increase physical activity and love doing it.

#3 - Overcompensating With Junk Food

The idea of G-flux is to increase your calories using whole nutrient-dense food sources. Not junk foods.

This doesn't mean you can't have a flexible diet but you want to be putting quality fuel into your body to support higher activity levels.

Who Shouldn't Do G-Flux?

1. People who have a significant amount of weight to lose (20+ pounds) it would be best to start with a caloric deficit​ ​ and work from there.​ 
2. ​People who don't have enough time to commit to 5+ hours a week of exercise​. In that case, this type of method may not be realistic.
3. People who have an unhealthy relationship with food or exercise​. This is specifically for people who tend to over-obsess about using exercise to burn fat thinking more = better. We want to exercise to feel good and not necessarily to burn more fat so I'd recommend looking at this as a lifestyle/routine for overall health rather than a hack.

While the concept of G-flux sounds great we must be honest and admit that there are some people it may not work for.

Exercise More To Eat More

The concept of G-flux is to increase your physical activity as well as your calories, which should activate certain hormonal processes to help you get leaner.

The way to look at this concept is to live an overall active lifestyle with a blend of physical activities you like to do that keep you healthy.

There are some dangers to taking this concept too far, especially for those who over-obsess about their health. This is why perspective matters.

When I do my sprints, lift weights, or walk in nature I do so because it helps my mental and physical health. Not because I'm trying to lose weight.

That said, G-flux is a method worth visiting and building up to as part of a healthy active lifestyle.

Onwards and upwards 🚀

- Dan

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help:

1. The Lean Body 90 System: When you’re ready to get in great shape, Lean Body 90 is the obvious choice. You can get in great shape and reach your fitness goals in just 90 minutes a week. Lose weight and build muscle even without hours in the gym or highly restrictive diets. Join 1000+ students here.

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References

1. Precision Nutrition Article: All about G-flux ​https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-g-flux​ 
2. Burn the Fat interview with John Berardio on Energy Flux: ​https://www.burnthefatblog.com/the-g-flux-interview-with-john-berardi-part-1/​ 
3. Goran MI, Calles-Escandon J, Poehlman ET, O'Connell M, Danforth E Jr. Effects of increased energy intake and/or physical activity on energy expenditure in young healthy men. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1994 Jul;77(1):366-72. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1994.77.1.366. PMID: 7961258.
4. Bell C, et al. High energy flux mediates the tonically augmented beta-adrenergic support of resting metabolic rate in habitually exercising older adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2004;89:3573-3578.