By Matt Lisk
Author
of The Burrito Diet
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Stop Using Weight Machines!
Weight machines are sexy, sleek,
shiny, and smooth. Perhaps that is why gym owners and lazy
personal trainers have fallen head over heels in love with
them.
Gym owners pack their gyms with
these eye catching devices so that they could get more people
into their gyms without having a large amount of trainers
on staff. Those gym goers who do utilize personal training
services often get a highly paid escort who walks them from
machine to machine and adjusts the setting for them. Do you
know how to spot a good trainer? One who never takes their
clients to the weight machines!
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Without getting too biological on
you, your muscles do not work in isolation - they work in a chain
of movement. The most evil of machines, the leg extension machine,
is a prime example - it is just not a natural movement. It has absolutely
nothing to do with how our legs are used in everyday life - for
walking, climbing, and descending.
Don't get me wrong - machines do have
their place in the fitness world. However, they are most beneficial
to two populations - bodybuilders who are looking to correct a deficiency
or weak point, and physical therapy patients who are trying to rebuild
strength and regain range of motion. They are not meant for people
looking to lose fat!
People looking to lose fat need to
utilize free weights, body weight exercises, and various other equipment
like medicine balls, resistance bands, and balance trainers - essentially
training movements not specific muscles.
Stop Using the Handles on Cardio Machines!
It cracks me up every time I see someone
who is using a treadmill and is holding on to the bar in front of
them for dear life with a white-knuckled grip. Maybe you've seen
the people who are draped all over the stairmaster or stepmill with
their arms, and their heads facing down while their back is unnaturally
curved. There are even those who hold on to the siderails on the
stepmills or elliptical machines and push up with their arms (or
my all time favorites are the people who contort their arms so that
their wrists are facing forward!)
What do these people all have in common?
They are wasting their time! Bars are meant for balance only - not
as a crutch to use when the going gets tough during exercise. When
you walk or run outside, do you have anything to hold on to? Unless
you run while pushing a shopping cart (very odd!) or stroller (if
you must), let go of the handles. You'll expend more energy and
use more muscle, thus getting a more efficient and effective workout.
I know what you're thinking - "What
about the elliptical machines with the handles that pump back and
forth? Don't I get more of a calorie burn from them?" In short,
no. Pumping your arms back and forth without touching the handles
will of be far more benefit to burning fat.
And don't use the handgrips on any
cardio machine to get your heart rate - they will not be accurate.
Instead, read on and follow my advice below.
Stop Doing Hours and Hours of Cardio!
Read this next statement carefully,
then re-read it:
You should never spend more than 20
minutes doing cardio
Want proof? Simply put a picture of
a marathon runner next to a picture of an Olympic sprinter (preferably
one who is not using steroids!). Now, which person's build would
you rather have?
If you're doing long bouts of cardio
(more than 30 minutes at a slow and steady pace) you are burning
muscle - muscle that is extremely vital to your fat burning efforts.
Your "cardio", rather than slow and steady, should be
short bursts of hard effort followed by recovery. I will go into
this much more in depth in future newsletter articles, and may even
have an expert or two explain in detail why training this way is
much more efficient for fat loss. For now, take my word for it that
SLOW AND STEADY DOES NOT WIN THE FAT LOSS RACE!
Stop Reading / Watching TV / Using Your Mobile Phone While In the
Gym!
The gym is the one place where multi-tasking
is an absolute no-no! Shut your mobile phone off (or better yet,
leave it in the car - many facilities are starting to ban mobile
phones because people tie up equipment while using them, or worse,
take pictures). Leave the magazines and newspapers at home. You
only have a limited time at the gym - you should be focused on achieving
your daily goals. To keep myself honest, I'll use a stopwatch to
time my between-sets breaks. Eliminate all distractions and your
fat loss efforts will improve dramatically!
Never Workout Without Recording Your Results as
You Go!
Whether you use a good old fashioned
paper and pencil, or a tricked-out PDA, keep track of your workouts
EVERY TIME you go to the gym.
A well-respected fitness expert (who
we will hopefully be able to speak to during one of the upcoming
teleseminars) speaks of setting personal records (or PRs as he calls
them). Every time in the gym, you should be focused on doing a little
bit more than you did the last time - a Kaizen approach to fitness.
Let's say you did 3 sets of 5 chin-ups in your last workout - you
should strive for 3 sets of 6 chin-ups next time out. If you fail,
that's ok - the quality of your workouts will be affected by many
variables like nutrition, amount of sleep, outside stress, etc.
Even if you did one set of 6 chin-ups followed by two more sets
of 5, you've bested your personal record. And how would you know
that? Because you were keeping track!
I have detailed workout journals that
span years. Not only do I note the sets, reps, time, etc. but also
any other notes that would have come into play (e.g., "gym
crowded - forced me to substitute Exercise X for Exercise Y; poor
sleep the night before; feeling nauseous). This helps you to put
some context around your performance. Your solution does not need
to be fancy - a notebook is fine, though there are software packages
you can use. No matter what you choose, make sure you utilize it
every time you work out!
Never Workout Without Music!
Did you ever pay attention to the
soundtrack of your favorite TV show or movie? Did you every wonder
why certain songs were playing at certain times? Music evokes emotion,
and emotion can carry you through even the toughest of workouts.
I've had workouts totally come apart when the battery died on my
iPod Nano!
Several studies have been conducted
to show the effect of music on workouts. One study showed that upbeat,
hard-driving music can increase your strength and intensity, while
another study revealed that music has been shown to increase pain
tolerance during a workout.
Putting on a pair of headphones also
helps you to block out all of the distractions that loom at the
gym (as previously noted). Sometimes, just hearing the opening beat
of some of the tunes on my iPod gets me revved up - especially since
I workout first thing in the morning (more on this in future issues
of the newsletter).
Some of my favorite tunes on my workout
list include a variety of genres:
"Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor
"Welcome to the Jungle"
- Guns 'n Roses
"Beautiful Day" - U2
"Wake Up Call" - Maroon
5
"Enter Sandman" - Metallica
"Higher" - Creed
Make your own workout mix and get moving!
Never Workout Without a Heart Rate Monitor!
The best way to keep yourself honest
in the gym is to wear a heart rate monitor. A heart rate monitor
will let you know how hard you are working, and when you need to
crank up the intensity of your workout. Whether weight training
or interval training, it is the best indicator of how hard you are
working and help you to figure out your optimal rest intervals.
For example, during interval training,
you need to create an oxygen debt - that is, your body is asking
your lungs for more oxygen than it can provide. How do you know
this is happening? After you stop your hard effort, your heart rate
should actually increase and you begin to pant in an effort to take
in more oxygen - and that is your debt situation. Having the HRM
makes it much easier to determine when you've reached this point.
I'll go into the optimal ranges for
your heart rate activity during exercise, calculating your maximum
heart rate and other relevant information. For now, get a heart
rate monitor, read the manual and take it for a test drive. You
don't need one with all of the bells and whistles (unless you're
into gadgets like me) - my favorite brand is Polar, and you can
get great prices by searching the Web.
Stop Socializing at the Gym!
Every gym has one - I call him "the
Mayor". He's the one who knows everyone and feels the need
to come over and talk about just about anything. He'll do his very
uninspired set on one of the weight machines, often grunting loudly
or distorting his face to get further attention, and when he finishes
says "Whew!" loudly to no one in particular. The poor
soul who acknowledges him will then be subjected to a 10-minute
discussion on the economy, the presidential race, the stock market,
or whatever strikes his fancy. He may even horse around with the
personal trainers, who are now not watching their clients as they
perform their sets.
You should avoid the Mayor at all
costs - he will derail your fat loss efforts in an instant! In fact,
you should avoid all interaction during your workout, with the exception
of asking someone if they are using a particular weight or rack.
If you're following my advice above and working out to music, this
is really easy to accomplish - just turn up your tunes and tune
out the others.
Folks at my gym may think I'm anti-social
because I don't acknowledge anyone - heck I don't even look at people
- while I'm in the middle of my workout. Why? Because I only have
a limited time to accomplish my goals for that day, and stopping
even for a moment to chat takes away from the time I have. And if
I don't reach my goal for that day, I consider it a failure (more
on that in future newsletters). To combat people's perceptions,
if you care about things like that, a simple smile or wave hello
as you enter or leave the gym is enough to reassure them that you
are not a recluse. But once you strap on your music, it's "Go
Time!"
Never Workout Without Consuming Protein Afterwards (and Sometimes
Before)
I train first thing in the morning,
so sometimes I drink a protein shake prior to heading to the gym,
sometimes I don't. There is a lot of debate over working out in
a fasted state that I won't get into here. Suffice it to say that
consuming protein before your workout has been shown in research
to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat, so it is a good idea
to have a protein shake before a workout, especially if you'll be
working out later in the day.
You should always consume protein
after a workout, preferably a protein shake made from whey protein
isolate. I will go into much greater detail in subsequent newsletters
about reliable brands, tasty recipes, etc. How much protein? Take
your current body weight and divide by 5.5 - that is how many grams
of protein should be in your post-workout shake. What about carbs?
The conventional wisdom says that the number of grams of carbs in
the post-workout shake should equal the number of grams of protein.
BUT...what I have found through my research and practice is that
post-workout shakes are more effective for fat loss if they are
kept low in carbs. One of the aspects of protein consumption that
will be covered later is exactly how many grams should be consumed
in a day, and questions about safety concerns from ingesting large
amounts of protein.
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Stop
Stretching Before Your Workout
Do you know how
many people walk into the gym from the street and immediately
start to stretch? Do you know how counter-productive this
is?
First, there are
two kinds of stretches - static and dynamic. An example of
static is when you throw your leg up on a parallel bar or
rack and bend at the waist until you feel a slight pull, then
hold for a period of time. Static stretching before workouts
is a very bad idea. Static stretching forces the muscle to
relax, this making it weaker. When a muscle is weaker than
its counterpart (for example if your hamstrings on the backs
of your leg are weaker than your quadriceps in the front of
your leg) it causes an imbalance that could lead to strains,
tears and pulls.
Dynamic stretching
is the way to go to get loose before your workout. Save your
static stretching for any time other than before your workout.
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About
The Author
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Matt Lisk is a fat loss expert
who has used his knowledge to lose over 70 pounds of body
fat, reduce his body fat percentage to under 10% and to
resolve a variety of health issues he was experiencing.
He is the author of Lean State University's Fat Loss 101
Newsletter at http://leanstate.com
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Matt is also the author of the fat-loss book, "The Burrito
Diet"
Click
here to read our review of his book!
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