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Dr Rangan ChatterjeeDr Rangan Chatterjee

#1 Reason You’re Still Storing Fat & Exhausted (No Matter How Healthy You Eat) | Alan Couzens

This episode is brought to you by: AG1: Get a FREE AG1 Green Steel Tumbler, 5 Travel Packs and Welcome Kit worth £80. Sign up for a subscription here: https://bit.ly/43FwxQl Peloton: Let yourself ride, lift, stretch, move and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Bike+ at https://onepeloton.co.uk When it comes to improving our health and fitness, most of us have absorbed the same message: work harder, push more, sweat more – basically, that no pain means no gain. But what if that story is not only wrong, what if it is actually holding you back? This week, I sit down with elite endurance coach Alan Couzens to completely reframe how we think about movement, fitness, and fat loss. Alan is both an exercise physiologist and a performance coach. He has spent the past three decades working with a wide range of endurance athletes at all ends of the performance spectrum, from ‘off the couch’ fitness athletes to the very best athletes in all of endurance sport. He shares his incredible wisdom & insights on X and his Substack, ‘The Science of Maximal Athletic Development’ which I would highly recommend if you want to go deeper into the topics we discuss in this week’s episode. Over the past few years, Alan has helped me to understand the critical importance of low intensity movement for health, performance and longevity, and in our conversation, we discuss: • Why the ability to burn fat at low intensities is one of the most important markers of true metabolic health • Why so many people feel they need to eat every two to three hours • How very easy movement can transform your health, your energy, your mood, and even your performance, often more than the hard workouts you think you “should” be doing • The need to balance out the stresses of modern life with activities like walking and yoga • The importance of building a big aerobic “engine” • How best to think about intensity, strength training, VO₂ max, and muscle mass • Why it is never too late to start increasing how much you move and experiencing the incredible benefits Alan is someone who I have a huge amount of respect for. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable and up to date with the latest science, he is also someone who has a huge amount of real-world experience helping people to improve their athletic performance and their health. My hope is that this episode serves as a powerful reminder that the human body simply does not work as well as it could, without adequate amounts of movement and that it inspires you to bring more easy movement into your life, in a way that supports your health for many decades to come. #feelbetterlivemore Connect with Alan: Website https://www.alancouzens.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/alan_couzens/ Twitter https://twitter.com/Alan_Couzens Alan’s Substack: The Science of Maximal Athletic Development https://alancouzens.substack.com/ #feelbetterlivemore #feelbetterlivemorepodcast ------- Order MAKE CHANGE THAT LASTS. US & Canada version https://amzn.to/3RyO3SL, UK version https://amzn.to/3Kt5rUK ----- Follow Dr Chatterjee at: Website: https://drchatterjee.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drchatterjee Twitter: https://twitter.com/drchatterjeeuk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drchatterjee/ Newsletter: https://drchatterjee.com/subscription DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

Dr. Rangan ChatterjeehostAlan Couzensguest
Jan 27, 20261h 52mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Why low-intensity movement restores fat-burning, energy stability, and performance

  1. Many modern health and weight problems stem from metabolic dysfunction where people default to burning carbs even at rest, driving cravings, energy crashes, and fat storage.
  2. Couzens reframes “training zones” to include ultra-low intensity “zone zero” (simply being off the couch), arguing that large volumes of easy movement are where key metabolic benefits occur.
  3. Low-intensity work supports cardiovascular remodeling by maximizing heart filling at relatively easy efforts, gradually enlarging the heart and improving stroke volume and aerobic capacity.
  4. Chronic high-intensity training layered on top of life stress can keep the body in sympathetic “fight-or-flight,” impair adaptation, destabilize glucose, and potentially harm long-term heart health.
  5. For sustainable fat loss and lifelong fitness, Couzens prioritizes stress management, daily easy walking (often in nature), and later adds modest strength work aimed at maintaining functional, aerobic muscle.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

If you burn carbs at rest, cravings and energy swings aren’t “willpower problems.”

Couzens argues that carb-dependence at low effort makes the body crave carbs, leading to vending-machine urges and difficulty with fasting or long gaps between meals; fixing metabolism makes behavior easier.

“Zone zero” (just moving) is real training for metabolic health.

He treats all low-intensity movement—walking, gentle activity, yoga—as meaningful because it improves fat oxidation and stabilizes blood glucose, even for elite athletes.

Walking can meaningfully improve endurance performance—even 5K times.

By accumulating many easy beats near maximal heart filling, walking drives cardiac remodeling (bigger stroke volume) and builds aerobic base that supports faster running with less stress.

Too much medium-hard work can create a ‘small engine revving too hard’ problem.

He describes athletes who train lots in zone 3–4 developing a mismatch between muscular ability and cardiac capacity, potentially stressing the heart due to high rate/limited perfusion time.

Choose intensity based on your stress load, not just your motivation.

Citing research (e.g., Seiler), he notes low intensity tends to support parasympathetic activity while high intensity is sympathetic-dominant; when life stress is high and HRV is low, hard sessions yield less adaptation.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

When you burn carbohydrate, you want carbohydrate. The body starts craving carbohydrate.

— Alan Couzens

A lot of those issues aren’t psychological… They’re issues of a dysfunctional metabolism.

— Alan Couzens

The first zone for everybody is just that I’m up, I’m not on the couch anymore… zone zero.

— Alan Couzens

If you want to burn fat from your body, you need to be able to burn fat within your muscles.

— Alan Couzens

The things that are going to be the most beneficial for your long-term performance… are exactly the same things… for your long-term health.

— Alan Couzens

Metabolic health as fat-fueled daily livingZone zero vs traditional training zonesWalking volume improving performanceStress, HRV, and exercise intensity selectionLactate as a marker of sugar-burning and stressVO₂ max, aging, and longevityStrength training for maintaining functional muscle

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