Scaling down the Error

Although it has been re-iterated over and over again by various fitness experts, I'm gonna mention it one more time just for emphasis:

Weighing Scales should never be the main indicator for your overall well being. People seem to get discouraged to see relatively low or zilch weight loss on the scale after weeks of intense training, therefore assuming the effort was all for naught. Well the problem with weighing scales is that it doesn't actually indicate the amount of lean muscle mass or fat in your body, it fact it just gives you a number. Although your weight might not have changed significantly, your body composition will definitely have changed after some significant resistance training with a proper diet.

Here's an example:

Previous Weight = 80 kg
Lean Muscle Gained = +2 kg
Fat Loss = -2 kg
Total Weight = 80 kg

Even though you lost 2 kg of fat and gained 2kg of lean muscle mass, you'll still have the same total weight!

Never trust what you see on the scale, instead look at the mirror and see any visual changes on your body since 1 kg of lean muscle occupies half the volume of 1 kg of fat due to it's denser structure. Or you can purchase body fat calipers to determine your actual body fat percentage, which is a relatively accurate way of determining your actual body composition. In the end and most importantly, make sure you feel good from training and your health improves for the better.

More on Abs

This month's issue of Men's Health had an article by Bill Hartman CSCS regarding habits required to build a six-pack. A good read for all washboard ab freaks out there, but there is one particular point I really want to emphasize from it. It is about exercising the right way in order to reveal the six-pack.

Contrary to popular belief, we all already have pre-existing abs. Many gym freaks out there keep on doing crunches and sit-ups, hoping that all that hard workout will come to fruition with abs to kill. The fact is, if you don't lose the fat gut covering it, you'll never ever see the abs you worked so hard for. (In fact as I previously stated in an earlier post, crunches and sit-ups are bad for your back) Don't believe me? Just take any thin guy who never trains, and you'll see the miraculous abs.

The author states that you first need to burn off the bulging gut by performing the right exercise. Many people translate that as performing intense cardio e.g. running the treadmill or jogging. Only a few informed fitness enthusiasts know that performing high intensity strength training, e.g. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), has equal the calorific expenditure compared to intense running. In addition to that, intense strength training is capable of boosting your body's metabolism (e.g. burn more calories) immediately after the workout session. In addition to THAT, strength training builds more muscles, which ALSO increases your body's basal or resting metabolism; therefore increasing the calories burnt during your non-training period to maintain and feed your body.

Utilizing this, you can eventually see your abs by merely training hard without running the treadmill for 1-2 hours, and with the added advantage of having more muscles to boot. Anyway do pick up the latest issue of Men's Health and have a read of the article for the other essential tips.

Crunches and Sit-ups are bad for you?!!

I recently read this interesting article on Michael Boyle's website regarding core and abdominal workouts, and could definitely enlighten a few gym-goers about the fallacies of our classic ab workouts. Here's an excerpt:

"First of all, crunches and sit-ups can reinforce poor posture. According to Eeric Truumees, MD, in his article "Back Pain Prevention, 5 Harmful Habits," poor posture "places an enormous amount of stress on the spine." Crunches and sit-ups involve spinal flexion and too much flexion of the spine can lead to disc problems over time. We have enough ways to ruin our back, why are we doing it in the gym?"

Please do check out this article

http://www.strengthcoach.com/public/1455.cfm

Impetus

As a diversion from the usual preaching of functional training or dissing of guys who can't perform even one chin-up, I thought this segment would be a good chance to reflect on certain issues regarding strength training, and the driving force that causes us to strive for physical perfection.

We all want to look good, and those who deny it are probably lying to themselves. We all try to rationalize that it's good for our health, athleticism, and improves our confidence. Regardless of these wonderful perks, nothing truly drives a person to train hard like the image of a perfect beach body with washboard abs that could attract any women (or men) within a 100 mile radius.

I have to admit that some people do train for more "noble" reasons. For instance, dads who want to keep up with their kids, obese men who want to have a healthier lifestyle, or even the average joe who wants to be stronger and faster. Whatever the reason, these are the drivers that forces us to spend considerable time hitting the weights, running the treadmill, or even going for those funky dance sport classes with the extremely vocal gay instructor. (No offense to them, in fact I admit they do a really good job at working the crowd!)

The efficacy of these drivers, on the other hand, are definitely questionable to an extent. For instance, it is now a popular trend for Malaysians to join the local Fitness First or California Fitness in an endeavour to seek the elusive washboard abs. Nonetheless, many poor souls lack the drive to train consistently and end up deluding themselves; thinking that running on the treadmill for a few minutes and working up a "sweat" at the pec-deck machine would miraculously lead to the path of happiness.

Personally, going to the gym and training requires a lot of motivation and at least a tangible purpose. I don't think that working out just to "get fit and lose weight" is a truly purposeful goal by any shape or form. In fact, training just for bigger biceps isn't that great a purpose nor motivator either. In the end, these reasons would just fall short. As with everything else in life, goals should be more realistic and tangible, something that would truly strike a chord with yourself. Sometimes you just have to think hard about what matters to you, for these things would be the impetus that perpetually drives you forward.

Useful Article

Good friend of mine sent me a link to an interesting article about the 7 Muscle Myths written by an author from Men's Health magazine. Check it out:

http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/7_Muscle_Myths.htm


Cheers,

MY

Optimizing your Training Sessions

Trying to develop and execute a proper training plan in between a tight job schedule can be quite a bitch, especially given the limited time frame a typical employee has. But I think this is a dilemma that can be remedied when a training session is properly optimized to be an efficient use of time without any dilly-dallying. Majority of the gym-goers tend to enjoy a nice stroll by the treadmill, enjoying the scenic view of the pilates class, or having an intellectual banter with friend in between sets. Once you remove the weights and various equipments, you might think the place was a local park.

A proper and productive strength training session can usually be completed within 30-60 minutes if you remove the erroneous time-wasting activities. Of course the efficacy of a good training session is also dependent on the post-training activities and recovery, factors which will ultimately affect your eventual progress. Unfortunately these are the fundamentals that people tend to neglect, and over time, take for granted.

As a guide for gym-goers of all stages and as a constant reminder to myself, I'll list out some of the basic fundamentals for optimizing your strength training sessions:

• Keep a training log to track and chart your overall workout progress.
• Plan your training sessions with what you want to accomplish beforehand.
• Perform each training session with high intensity and minimal rest, burning enough calories therefore eliminating the need for time-consuming cardio.
• Perform whole body exercises e.g. squats, deadlifts, and cleans instead of single-joint exercises e.g. bicep curls. Whole body exercises work multiple muscles simultaneously therefore burning more calories and saves time.
• Provide your body with sufficient fuel and nutrition pre- and post- workout to encourage muscle synthesis and fat burning.
• Provide your body with sufficient rest in between workouts. General guideline is 48 hours of rest for each muscle group which was worked. Sufficient rest would ensure that the following training session is performed at a near-maximum capacity.
• Maintain perfect form without cheating (Exception could be made for the final go-for-failure rep).
• Listen for cues from your body e.g. If you're tired, then go lighter for this workout or rest. If you feel that you're capable of lifting more, then go for it! This will maximize your workouts without wasting your high capacity days.

If anybody has anything else to add to this list, you're welcome to drop a comment or two!

The Learning Process

One of the lessons I learned from Dale Carnegie's book "How to win friends and influence people" is that people HATE being proven wrong. Despite how right you are, people would trigger some inner defensive mechanism and attempt to denounce your accusation even though it may be perfectly logical, or if your intentions were absolutely pure. Although this may not be entirely true and certain people are humble enough to listen and learn, plenty of people out there are still capable of being dense and absolutely stubborn. If that wasn't the case, people would be abnormally happy and singing "kumbayah" in a psychadelic alter-universe of hippy individuals.

I realized that even this applies to various fitness "experts" and even to certain newbies who apparently think their method is absolute. (Yes, I thought I was doing the right thing too even when I started having a nagging shoulder pain) Bodybuilders allegedly think that they're Greek gods when they perform a 400 pound bench press, even though they're probably too stiff to perform even one pull-up or chin-up!! They'll probably just pound their chest, kiss their guns, and shrug it off.

It's good to exude a certain amount of confidence or swagger into what you do, albeit it's another thing to be totally obtuse and unwilling to learn. The world of fitness has a plethora of quick fixes and generic training schemes, and it's easy to be drawn into it especially being a neophyte gym-goer without any idea what he's doing. The consequences of a flawed training plan isn't that obvious from the get-go, in fact it's possible of being blinded by the initial gains, resulting in complacency and acceptance that the training plan is an absolute success. Even possible injuries or nagging pains might be dismissed deeper into the program, a ticking injury timebomb if you will.

I may not be a fitness expert, nor do I claim to be one. Nonetheless experience has taught me to question things and know the basis behind workouts I perform. Not every training program developed by a certified personal trainer is a sure-fire thing, it may not even be tailored for a person's particular genetic makeup or actual practical needs. It is imperative to never stop learning, and never go blindly into things that you barely understand.