www.womensfitness.co.uk | March 2010

★We’ve been told time and time again that it’s not realistic to melt fat from one area of the body, and that we must adopt an all-over fat-burning approach in order to succeed. But what

if times were changing? Wouldn’t it be great to banish bingo wings or to shift stubborn back fat once and for all? Well, some experts in the fitness industry claim to have discovered a tool that allows you to do just that, and it’s called Biosignature Modulation.

What is it?First developed in the US by Canadian strength coach Charles Poliquin, Biosignature Modulation has been growing in popularity over the last five years and is now being used by some of the UK’s top fitness professionals. It is based on the theory that where we store bodyfat is down to our hormonal profile and, more specifically, the hormonal imbalances in our body. Put simply, it explains why some men develop man boobs and why some women have a skinny waist but chunky thighs. Biosignature claims that where these hormonal imbalances are present, spot-reduction fat-loss is possible.

At UpFitness personal-training gyms in London there are 12 Biosignature Modulation practitioners, who use the results as a starting point for designing the most effective diet and fitness programmes for their clients in order to get the fastest results. The team is headed up by Nick Mitchell, who trained with Charles himself in the US, and who is one of the UK’s most experienced Biosignature practitioners. ‘Biosignature is the most useful personal-training tool to be developed in the last decade,’ he says.

Just by looking at his clients, Nick says he can tell if they are sleeping well, if they have digestive problems or if they suffer from large amounts of stress, all based on where they are carrying fat. ‘Many people dismiss Biosignature as voodoo,’ says Nick, ‘but I’ve assessed enough people to know that if someone comes in with a disproportionately high amount of fat on their back, then they simply aren’t able to tolerate carbohydrates, for example.’

How does it work? The Biosignature assessment involves skin-fold measurements being taken using callipers at 12 different points on the body. The callipers measure the amount of stored fat underneath the skin, allowing a total bodyfat reading to be calculated. This procedure is more accurate than using a body-composition machine in a gym or health centre. For women, the healthy bodyfat range is around 12 per cent to 30 per cent, but will vary depending on your age and ethnicity. The individual readings allow the practitioner to pinpoint areas where disproportionately high amounts of fat are being stored. Different areas correspond to different hormonal imbalances – a high proportion of fat at the belly button, for example, is an indicator of high levels of the

stress hormone cortisol. However, fat on the triceps (rear upper arms) indicates low testosterone levels (which is why men don’t get bingo wings), while fat on the bottom and legs denotes too much oestrogen. Back fat and love handles suggest we don’t tolerate carbs well, while kneecap and calf fat indicate low levels of growth hormones.

Once the imbalances have been defined, do we just pop a pill to melt the fat away? Nick is quick to stress that Biosignature is not a quick-fix option. ‘You need to work hard, but with the right combination of exercise and the right diet and supplements, you can get the body you want,’ he says. Many hormonal imbalances are easily corrected in a matter of weeks with a good diet and supplements. ‘Overproduction of oestrogen, for example, can be controlled by eating lots of green vegetables and taking oestrogen modulators – natural supplements such as green tea and grape seed extract,’ explains Nick, who believes that controlling your imbalances is a crucial part of achieving your health and fitness targets. ‘If you’re not sleeping well due to high cortisol levels or you’re not digesting your food properly, then you will not reach your fitness goals,’ he says. A fibre supplement in powder form is one of Nick’s ‘must-take’ supplements. ‘We are not what we eat but what we digest,’ he says, ‘and taking a mix of soluble and insoluble fibre will help improve your digestive processes.’

Exercise is keyNick is very clear that the Biosignature readings are only a starting point, though. ‘It’s not just about the numbers,’ he explains. ‘If it were that simple, you could just look down a sheet and prescribe yourself some supplements to solve all your problems.’ The skill of the method is designing a programme that will match the lifestyle and health history of the individual.

Exercise is as much a part of the plan as supplementation, and Nick believes that, on the whole, women are still not doing enough resistance training and eating enough protein. ‘Resistance training is the key to leanness,’ says Nick. ‘It increases your insulin-receptor sites to help your body process food more efficiently, as well as increasing your metabolism so you can burn calories at a higher rate.’

To become leaner, Nick advocates 250g of protein a day and a workout programme consisting of five sessions a week: two cardio sessions and three one-hour resistance sessions followed by 15 minutes of steady cardio. ‘The resistance work will deplete your glycogen stores so that when you come to do the cardio your body only has your fat stores left to burn,’ he says.

Nick Mitchell is a senior Biosignature Modulation practitioner and the director of UpFitness, which has personal training gyms in several London locations. Visit www.upfitness.co.uk for further information.©

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BREAKING NEWS! IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO SHED FAT FROM YOUR TROUBLE SPOTS FOREVER

WITH A REVOLUTIONARY FORM OF TRAINING, SAYS KRISTOPH THOMPSON

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