Archive for the ‘Exercise’ Category

How To Get Six Pack Abs

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012


If there is one question that comes up time and time again, it’s “How do I get a six pack?” 

For every 5 questions I get asked, this is usually one of them.

Generally speaking, there is no definitive answer to this question, there are simply methods that work and those that don’t. But rather than attempt to answer it yet again, I thought a fresh point of view might be useful. And what better view is there than an established author on the subject of Fat Loss and abdominal development?

Theo M. Whittington is the author of The Fat Loss Handbook and he has not only agreed to give us some insight into how to develop your six pack, but he has also set up a fantastic deal for anyone reading this blog which he has broken down below.

But I’m sure you just want to get to it now, so I’m going to leave it to Theo to take it from here…

Everyone wants to know how to get lean, defined abs.. right?

Whether you’re a man or a woman, whether you’re 16 or 60, you’d like your midsection to look firm and flat. Today I’m going to share an excerpt from my book, The Fat Loss Handbook that shows you how to get great abs that you can be proud of. 

In recent years there have been two myths that have misguided many people, they go something like this.

  1. Doing sit ups everyday will melt away the fat and give you ripped abs
  2. Everyone has abs, you don’t need to train them –  Just lose the fat on top of them.

There’s a grain of truth to both of these but if you want to have well developed and lean abs, you must understand that these are incorrect statements. The process of achieving impressive abs is one of development and unveiling.

The development of your abs 

It is true that everyone has abs but does everyone have well developed abs? No. To say that you don’t have to work your abs and that you just need to diet is like a cast of actors saying “We’ll be there on show night, so we don’t need to practice.” It’s ridiculous, the abs must be developed.

There are three main parts of the abs that we will focus on:

  1. Rectus Abdominis -Your six-pack muscle
  2. Obliques -The internal and external obliques make up the sides of your abs
  3. Transverse Abdominis -This muscle lies beneath above muscles and acts as a corset to draw your abdomen in

The Rectus Abdominis 

The rectus abdominis is the muscle that is worked most by sit-ups, crunches and leg raises yet despite the ab training culture, this muscle is not strong or well developed in most people, this is evident from a glance around your local town or city, a trained eye will probably see many examples of lordosis of the spine partially due to weak lower abs. The rectus abdominis muscle acts to bend the spine forward, exercises such as crunches and sit-ups target the upper sections of the muscle whereas hanging leg raises target the lower part far more. Do not neglect to include a lower abdominal exercise, this area is weak in most people. 

The Internal and External Obliques 

The oblique muscles are also undertrained in most people, the obliques can be trained with twisting movements of the trunk and with side bends. The oblique muscles are very useful for reducing the size of the waist when trained and don’t thicken the waist significantly like many claim. If you want a visually pleasing midsection then some exercise for the oblique muscles is always necessary.

The Transverse Abdominis

The transverse abdominis is a very interesting muscle, especially in a world where expanding waistlines are a big concern. The action of this muscle is to draw in the abdomen, to literally make you appear slimmer. Although many fitness professionals will tell you that you can’t flatten your

abdomen with exercise, this isn’t completely true. You can’t exercise your abs and expect pounds of fat to evaporate but you can strengthen the muscles that draw your abdomen in so that your abs become firm and tight. This isn’t achieved with hundreds of sit ups, crunches or in fact any of the usual, gym- popular exercises. It is is done with an exercise called the vacuum. The vacuum isn’t an exercise you see too often and is an exercise most people never come across. In the simplest terms this exercise is ‘sucking in your gut’ but there’s a lot more to it than that. (Note: The exercise description isn’t included here, I’m afraid)

The Serratus Anterior Muscle 

Development of the abs wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the little known serratus anterior muscle. The serratus attaches the shoulder blade to the ribs at the front of the body, it is not technically a part of the abdominal muscle group but it strongly enhances the visual impact of the abs when properly developed so it is included here. The serratus anterior muscle pulls the shoulder blade forwards, it is the antagonist of the rhomboids and lower trapezius muscle. As the bench press has largely replaced the push up in many peoples resistance training routines this muscle is sometimes not developed proportionately with other muscles. The serratus is trained by flaring the shoulder blades at the top of push ups, shoulder presses and dips.

Complete Abdominal Development

Make use of these effective exercises to develop strong abs.

Hanging Knee Raise                  3-4 x 10

Abdominal Crunches               3-4 x 10

Russian Twists                            3-4 x 20

Straight-Legged Sit-ups           3-4 x 10

 

How to reveal your abs? For the next 14 days you can get The Fat Loss Handbook for only £9.99 (50% off) and learn effective strategies for a leaner body. I’d like to thank Mark for the opportunity to contribute to the Dynamic Core Solutions blog.

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Why Your Gym Sucks!

Monday, March 19th, 2012

There is something seriously wrong with the fitness industry these days. It has become far too commercialized.

What should be an industry targeting the good of the population and be there for help and support where it is sought and inspiration where it it is not, has become far to focused on profit and money making.

Which is not only bad for those looking for the support, but for the industry and population as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not so naive that I don’t see the business aspect of the industry and that profits are required to allow the facilities and services to survive. But, there is now so much focus on the all-mighty dollar, that it is actually to the severe detriment of the services being provided.

Now, in reading the title to this article, you will no doubt have had one of three thoughts:

  1. How dare you! My gym Rocks! (or words to that effect)
  2. I agree
  3. I’m not a member of a gym, so it can’t suck

If you are in the 1. camp and your gym does indeed ‘rock’, then either you are extremely lucky and have found one of the few quality facilities currently available – yes they do exist, but they are generally small(ish) independent gyms run by people with passion for the subject matter (health, fitness, strength, physique training) whatever their specialism may be, and a deep desire to see the improvements from their clientele. And if you are a member of such a place, then I urge you to shout about it from the rooftops and ensure that place survives and thrives for the benefit of everyone of its members. – or you are deluding yourself.

If however, as is more likely, you fall in the 2. camp, then the big question is, ‘why do you continue to go there?’.

Well, if you are in the majority group – you don’t. Most leisure clubs or large chains operate on the same model. Sell year long (or several year long) membership packages and then hope the member stops showing after a month or two.

If any of these clubs actually had to accommodate their entire client base in a single week, they would be closed down for breaching fire regulations. Especially as most people would want to train during peak times causing clubs to have to deal with around 10 times their capacity levels.

But people do go to these gyms and then complain day after day about how they can’t get using the equipment they want. How they are sick of having to work around the January resolution crowd or the beach body panic groups. They complain how the equipment isn’t up to scratch or there is not enough of it. But most of all, they complain about how their complaints are never listened to.

If that is you, then again, the question is – why?

Often the answer is, because they are all the same and they have to train somewhere. But as the people in group 1 will testify, that is not the case. There are great gyms out there, you just have to look past the usual suspects. Don’t just go for the gym that is the cheapest or the nearest or the one that you’ve heard of because they have the biggest marketing budget. Don’t pick your gym based on the number of treadmills. And if their marketing is based around gimmicks like Vibro Plates, Thigh Isolation Machines or Zumba Classes, don’t just walk away, turn and run and run fast (don’t worry, no one in that place will have the fitness level to catch you).

Where you train should be down to one thing and one thing only – will it help you achieve your desired results?

The sales person will invariably look to convince you that you will. That is, after all, their job. But will they really?

  • Will the staff be on hand to correct your technique?
  • If you don’t know where to begin, will you be offered a programme based on your goals (and I don’t mean a generic workout where a fitness instructor, who considers this a wage packet rather than a calling, shows you how to switch on set up or use the machines and then maybe throws in a couple of sets of bicep curls for good measure)?
  • Do they have all the equipment you need to train well? – And I don’t mean the equipment they tell you you need – a smith machine is NOT the same as a Bench Press, Kettlebells are NOT all you need, A leg press machine does NOT replace a squat rack. It doesn’t have to be complicated though. Solid, practical equipment trumps shiny with lots of buttons and levers every time.
  • Do they have space for you to train? What time will you regularly be training? Go in at those times and see if you would be able to carry out your workout of choice. If not, what’s the point?

These aren’t the only criteria, but you get the idea. A gym is about training for a result. If you can’t train optimally, then why are you paying a membership?

Time was that a gym simply meant a big shed with little more than barbells and weights. If you wanted a CV workout, you went outside and hit the pavement. And you know what? These gyms worked and the people using them got phenomenal results. However, since Nautilus developed their ‘variable resistance’ 12 station circuit machines in the 70s there have been constant developments in the variety of equipment available in modern gyms. So that should mean an even better training experience right?

Unfortunately, these machines did not live up to the theory and did not produce the results they were designed for. But leisure clubs still use them. Why? Because it takes about 30mins to train the entire staff of a club to use every machine in the building, whereas it takes months to train them to be proficient in lifting weights correctly and further months or even years to train them well enough to train another person in how to do it.

So a club that takes the path of least resistance and puts their investments in machines is thinking only about profit and turnover rather than your results.

What about cost?

What about it? You cannot put a price on your health and fitness. If you lose that, you lose everything. Ok there are limits, but you are unlikely to exceed an acceptable budget regardless of the gym membership.

The highest membership I am aware of in the West of Scotland is £140 per month (there may be higher, but I haven’t heard of it). Now that is for a leisure club and to be honest it is more of a status thing than a gym membership. People rarely go there to train well, they go there to meet up after a ‘session’ to sit in the cafe and socialize. If you are serious about your training, you wouldn’t go there anyway.

Almost all other gyms are well below the £100 level and for most people, that is not a problematic amount. It may feel like it is. You may believe it is. And for a few it might be. But most of the people I would hear complain about such a figure have no issues spending over £50 on a night out drinking or a similar amount on Sky Sports or Movies. So where are your priorities? Quick treat fix now or a fit and healthy life?

However, I know that isn’t you as such a person wouldn’t have read this far.

Just remember most gyms are giving you access to many thousands of pounds worth of equipment. And if the staff are experienced and passionate enough (which they should be if you select the right gym) then you are also getting that experience and education along with your membership.

So if you look at it that way, it’s an absolute steal.

Is it worth paying £15 per month for a gym where you don’t feel comfortable, can’t train well, it’s too busy or you never go? Or is it better to pay more for a gym where you get fantastic results, feel like you are appreciated as a member, are given all the help and advice you need and are able to achieve something?

As for distance, again, priorities!

You are better going to a gym once or twice per week where you can train well and train right than to go with your local gym and achieve nothing.

We have just opened a facility that covers every criteria that I felt was lacking in the gyms I’d experienced. Everything listed above and more is checked off. And there are members and clients who travel almost 40 miles several times per week because of this.

If you want to check it out Click Here.

There are no queues for equipment, everything is robust and of high quality (Barbells tested to 1500lbs, Bumper Plates etc), there are no gimmicky pieces of equipment taking up training space (no abductor machines, wave machines or Vibroplates) just the equipment needed to get quality results.

And we ensure that we listen to the members. A few weeks back a couple of members mentioned a punch bag (which we didn’t have at the time) another couple mentioned suspension training. Both are now part of the set up.

I’m not saying this to sell our gym though. For most of you we are not a practical choice given we have subscribers from all around the world. But it is simply an example of what is available. There are gyms out there that will get you the results or training experience you are looking for. Go seek them out and stop whining about how much your gym sucks when you have been a member there for the last 4 years!

Demand better!

You are the customer! It’s your Gym! Make sure it meets your needs! And if it doesn’t, find one that does!

If however, you are in category 3 and don’t have a gym membership. Perhaps that is because you thought all gyms sucked. Well now you know different. So widen your search and you will find that gem you are looking for.

Or maybe you don’t want to join a gym.

That seems a bit alien to me these days, but I remember a time when I felt the same. You don’t have to join a gym to be fit and healthy. You can play sports, work out at home or do some other kind of physical activity and that’s all good with me. In which case, this all doesn’t apply to you, but if that’s the case, why did you read this far?

Whatever the reason, thank you and I hope you have enjoyed doing so.

So over to you guys.

Am I wrong?

Does your gym ‘Rock’? And if so, list it below and let others know about it.

Or does your gym actually suck hard? And what is your reason for sticking with it?

Comment Below and Let me know.

Until next time – go find a great gym and train for success!

 

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Why Count Reps? – Every Rep Counts!

Monday, September 19th, 2011

If you have ever spent any time in a gym, lifted weights or even if you have only read the odd magazine or internet article, you will invariably have seen some kind of rep prescription. 3 sets of 10 reps; 5 sets of 5 reps; 2 sets of 12 reps…

But what does it mean? Why would you want to stick to those reps? Why do you need to count reps at all?

There are a couple of reasons why a set number of reps are commonly used in the creation of training programmes.

The first is to develop progression and give a target.

If you were able to lift a set weight for 10 reps last time round, perhaps you want to force out 12 this time. That’s progression, you have lifted more, so you have improved and you will force your muscles to develop. By having the number in your head you know what you have to achieve. There is a finish line in sight. So when you get to 8 reps and it starts to burn, you can tell yourself you haven’t made your target yet and force through to find the additional 4 reps.

The other reason has a more academic foundation.

There have been a number of studies carried out on the effects of different rep ranges on muscular development. Although each study used differing parameters, the general conclusions were that, lifting in the lower rep ranges (below 6 reps) is optimal for strength increase and mid range reps (8-12) were best for hypertrophy.

The higher rep ranges (12+) resulted in differing conclusions depending on the study. Strengthening of tendons; lengthening the muscle fibres; endurance within the movement etc. All these have been shown as optimal reasons for using this rep range.

So when someone is devising a programme they will generally use these rep ranges as a guide depending on their primary focus.

Both reasons are perfectly valid and can happily be used as a tool within your training regime. The problem comes when these reasons become gospel. They are the rules and there is no deviating from them.

There is no doubt that progression is important for development when training and that utilizing reps as a method of tracking your progression is a useful tool. Having that target in mind is certainly a way of ensuring you push far enough to promote progression.

What you should remember though is development is never linear. You can’t force a one or two rep progression with every workout. You may be able to for a few weeks, but eventually that progression will stop. That doesn’t mean, as is often claimed, that you have hit a plateau. More likely you have just spent the first few weeks becoming anatomically adapted to the movement, which made it look more like muscular progression. But it is often at this point that the real development starts.

In other words, constantly changing your routine whenever you appear to plateau is not as good an idea as it may appear.

Also, just because you can’t do more or even as much as you did previously, doesn’t necessarily mean you have gotten weaker. You could be just as strong, or perhaps stronger, but if you’ve had a long, stressful day or a poor night’s sleep, you can’t expect your body to perform optimally.

[intlink id=”979″ type=”post”]See this article for more on this.[/intlink]

Not only that, but what if you are particularly invigorated on a particular day? Setting yourself a target could be very limiting.

Say you managed 10 reps last time, so today you are going to push out 12. What if you actually had enough in the tank for 15 or 16? You start to struggle at 11 so stop at 12, after all you made your target, you have just lost the opportunity for an additional 3 or 4 reps.

So, you can see, using reps as a target is generally not the optimal way to train.

Not all reps are equal.

How you lift is crucial to the return you get. As I covered in [intlink id=”1047″ type=”post”]This Article[/intlink] you should be looking to give your all in every rep. Either you should be lifting explosively with full contraction and constant tension on the muscle or carrying out controlled negatives enforcing your mind muscle connection etc.

Regardless of the technique you are employing, every rep requires you to give it your full, undivided attention.

If you are busy counting reps, that is just another distraction you don’t need and most likely you will start to think about how many you have left rather than making the most of the rep you are on.

It is for that reason that I generally prefer to work in the lower rep ranges.

Which brings us to reason number 2 – Different rep ranges should be used for different results.

It is issues like this that show the difference between pure science and real world application.

In a like for like situation it may well be mildly optimal for each result to be in the rep range described earlier. But regardless of your target, all rep ranges will show some kind of improvement. Low reps will cause hypertrophy and high reps will increase strength (assuming you are nutritionally set).  However, working in the low rep range will allow you to maintain focus on each and every rep.

Generally I have found that, above 6 reps, most people lose their intensity and focus and start looking to get through to the end.

You should always aim to do is as much work as you can.

Your muscle fibres will always fire in order (smallest to largest) and the way to get to the larger fibres is to apply as much force from the muscle as possible.

The most common route for doing that is to add weight. But if you remember your high school physics, weight (or mass) is only part of the equation.

Force = Mass x Acceleration

So the other factor is acceleration. If you accelerate a lighter weight faster than you would a heavy weight, you are potentially generating the same amount of force. To that end, the optimal movement would obviously be to accelerate a heavy weight fast.

If your target is hypertrophy, the convention might be to do 3 sets of 10, but what if you did 10 sets of 3? What if you just kept the rest periods short and gave your full focus to every one of the 3 reps? You would be able to use a heavier weight, but you’d still do the same number of reps. The volume would be greater and you would have lifted with greater intensity. And if you are lifting at that low rep range, you don’t need to count. 3 is easy to track. And if you only do 2 or you do 4, so what?

Just keep your focus on the individual reps, not the number.

If, on the other hand, your training requires you to be working in the higher rep ranges (8-12), you still don’t need to count. If you end up doing 15 or more, you will be very aware that the set has gone on too long and you need a heavier weight. If you only managed 5, you will know it wasn’t enough without counting the reps out and that your weight is too heavy.

Just focus on each individual rep, make every rep count and continue to push until you have truly failed (assuming maximum reps were the purpose of the exercise).

That way, you are more likely to be focused on your form, your technique, your contractions, your range of motion and you will be getting much more in return from your workout. If you have given up time out of your day to go and make improvements, then why waste reps?

Stop getting hung up on numbers. Yes it’s good to see progression, but if you are giving your all at all times, the progression will come. Feel free to test yourself every few months, but don’t get caught up on bean counting.

Numbers are meaningless for most people. You want your body to look good, you want to feel good, you want to improve, so make the most of every element and don’t get distracted by reps, weight or time. They are simply distractions and you have enough to focus on.

Make the most of your workouts. Stop counting reps and make EVERY rep count!

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Are you really giving your all?

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Until now I’ve mainly been looking at excuses that are likely to be holding many people back in their pursuit of an improved physicality and fitness levels. Obviously as a reader of this blog, you are probably not someone who is greatly hampered by such things, but it never hurts to instil the odd reminder now and again.

Today I want to discuss something else that has probably affected all of us at some point.

It’s not so much an excuse, but it is something that is limiting more people in their progress than you might think. In fact it is something I see hour after hour, day in day out. If there is a group of people training, chances are this is affecting at least one of them.

The question is – Are you giving your All at All times?

Just turning up to the gym and going through the motions is not enough to make progress.

If you are one of those people that head for the recumbent bike with a book, have a read while you spin the pedals around, then step off without a hair out of place and think that was a worthwhile 30mins or whatever, then I can assure you, your results are a long way off.

In fact, if that is you, then either make a decision to change right now, or stop reading right here and don’t come back to this site until you are willing to put in some kind of effort.

Similarly, when you hit the weights room, regardless of what you are lifting for, whether it be hypertrophy, strength, fat loss or toning, how you lift is as important, if not more important, than what you lift.

The people that make real progress are the ones who put their all into every rep of every set. If the target of the set is failure, then push to failure, not just until it gets uncomfortable. If the aim is to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible, then you are looking to lift, not just heavy, but with acceleration. Accelerating a heavy weight is the optimal route to accessing your deep threshold motor units, ensuring the largest stimulus for your muscles. If the target is speed, then push to the end, push through the wall and force your body to adapt.

In other words, just making the movement pattern is not enough.

Yes, it is important to learn correct form. It is necessary to spend some time developing your mind muscle connection. It is a good idea to work on bringing up weaknesses. But, regardless of the type of workout you are doing, it is of critical importance that you make the most of it.

Why waste reps?

Now I’m not a big advocate of HIT training, but there is one thing that you can learn from that method. Make every lift, every movement and every set as important as it would be if you only had one chance to make it work. With HIT training you perform one set for each muscle group. One set and one set alone.

Let’s assume you are looking for some major chest development. Imagine each week you only had one set of 5 reps of bench pressing in which to achieve that. 5 reps and that’s it until next week. You would be much more focused, you’d ensure you kept your chest muscles activated throughout the movement on every rep, you’d accelerate the bar with everything you had, you’d squeeze every rep for all it was worth, you’d ensure a full range of motion and you’d do it all with the heaviest weight you could manage.

After all, you’ve only got one shot at this and that has to be enough to make your chest grow.

HIT or no HIT, this is the sort of focus you should be applying to every rep of every set, regardless of the number of sets.

2 people can do the same workout and get massively different results. You could put that down to genetic makeup. But the fact is the person who puts their all into every rep will always outshine the person who just goes through the motions.

Always be in control.

When you are lifting weights, you control the bar, don’t let the bar control you. You lower it and you ‘command’ it back up. That is a very different process than letting it drop under gravity and then trying to grind it back up (before resting at the lockout position for 5 seconds).

If you are doing something a bit more cardiovascular, be in control of your breathing and your form. Remain focused and keep your posture. Then, even though your breaths may shorten and your heart rate quicken, you can control it back down again at a comfortable pace. Don’t bend over double gasping for air. It’s your body, you control it.

“What about overtraining?”

In my experience the attempt to avoid overtraining is, in itself, the most overdone thing in a gym. I am so sick of hearing the ‘overtraining’ excuse.

It is incredibly hard to reach a level of overtraining. I’m not talking about a bit of fatigue because you pushed heavy on a few workouts despite not having enough sleep [intlink id=”979″ type=”post”]I’ve already covered how to deal with that[/intlink] or getting ill from training heavy and hard on a poor diet. That’s a nutritional issue. True overtraining takes weeks to recover from and would require a level of training that most regular people could never find the time to achieve.

I’ve actually seen people stop their workout because the clock told them they had been training for an hour and they didn’t want to go one minute over. I’ve heard others talk of the mythical 45min maximum session time.

It’s all garbage and nothing more than an excuse to stop or simply a lack of proper information.

Think about it – When does the 45mins start? When you hit the gym floor? When you enter the gym? When you lift your first weight? What if you lifted something heavy just before you came to the gym (maybe you had to move a couch) does that mean you better get to the gym quick as your 45mins have started? Of course not!

Train to the maximum level that you can optimally recover from.

Some days that could be 20mins other days it could be 5hrs. There are no set rules and relying on a clock is just finding another constraint to hold you back.

If someone is there to spot you, that doesn’t give you licence to give up.

If you are doing an exercise and you get to a rep that is a real push. It’s probably going to be your final rep, you know you have nothing more to give – in fact you’re not sure you are even going to make this one. Just because you’ve got someone standing over you is not a reason to just relax every muscle safe in the knowledge there is someone there to help you up with the bar.

Your spotter is not there to lift the bar for you, their purpose is to give you as little assistance as possible whilst keeping you safe. Don’t make them have to upright row the bar back onto its hooks because you didn’t have the determination to push out that final rep.

If you are doing 50 meter sprints, don’t just stop and walk at 40 meters because it’s your 6th set, your lungs are heaving & your legs feel like jelly. You lift your chin and you push as hard as you can, it might be slower than a sprint, you may be barely moving, but you set yourself a distance of 50 meters, so that is what you push for. Giving your all right to the line.

I have to return again to the reason you are training at all. The result you are looking to achieve. The physique you so desperately crave. Remind yourself of the reason you are doing this, see it in your head, reconnect with the emotion and use it to push you in every aspect of your training.

The same goes for your diet. Use the emotion to help you decide what to eat or drink. Are your cravings stronger than that emotion? Or are you simply ‘giving in’ because it’s easier at that moment?

You want a result, you have made a commitment to do something about it, you have set aside time to train for that result, so why would you then give sub-optimal effort levels?

If you are already using the excuse that you [intlink id=”901″ type=”post”]don’t have time[/intlink], then why, when you give yourself some time, would you waste a second of it? Why would you want to take 5min rest periods just because the exercise it tough and you are putting off your next set? Why would you do sub optimal reps? Why would you eat ‘convenience foods’ when it is going to put you back several days? (not very convenient if you ask me).

Change is difficult. Your body is comfortable as it is (even if that comfort is safe in the knowledge that your health is in danger) it doesn’t want to change. If you force it, it will resist and suddenly all excuses seem logical. At that point, your willpower will lose, logic will go out the window until it becomes hindsight and then it becomes clear.

But it’s too late by then!

So, if you have fallen into any of the traps I’ve described, now you can be mindful of them. Realize what you are doing, take a step back, think about what you want to achieve and more importantly, why? Reconnect with that emotion and use that to overcome your excuses.

Never again should you be making [intlink id=”901″ type=”post”]Work[/intlink], [intlink id=”943″ type=”post”]Not Liking Something[/intlink], [intlink id=”979″ type=”post”]Fatigue[/intlink], [intlink id=”1018″ type=”post”]Injuries[/intlink] or Lack Of Intensity a reason for not progressing.

Stop making plans to fail and start planning a route to success.

Your results, your goals, your physique, your health and wellbeing are all in your hands. Take hold of your destiny and leave the excuses behind you. Now go and make the greatest improvements you’ve ever made – No excuses!

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Playing the long game

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

It is interesting in looking at some of the search terms used when someone wants to know how to lose the pounds. One of the ones that comes up quite frequently is ‘lose weight fast’, which got me to thinking how astonishing it is that a three word search can be so wrong!

There are only three words yet every one of them is wrong.

Many of you will now be thinking, how can I know if it’s wrong or not? How can I know what the person was thinking? And the fact is, I can’t for sure, but that still doesn’t make the phrasing of that term any more right. In the end it probably is correct in that it will help find the site being looked for, but in respect of what they are looking to achieve it is wrong in every other way.

Let’s break it down:

Working from the end, we have the word ‘Fast’. This is a big deal for most people. They want results and they want them yesterday. No one wants to put in a long period of effort. They just want a magic solution that will get an instant result with little change on their part.

The problem is there is no such thing as magic and you cannot defy physics. Your body is composed the way it is and can only be changed at its pre-determined, optimal rate.

You may have heard the guideline of targeting 2 pounds of fat loss per week and there is a reason that is such a commonly quoted guide. For most people, that is the optimal rate. If you lose more than that you are likely sacrificing muscle tissue and in return you are jeopardizing  your long term success.

In very basic terms, the more muscle tissue you have (lean muscle mass) the higher your metabolism. That is a very crude way of looking at it, but the principle still stands. The higher your metabolism, the more you can eat and still lose weight. The more you can eat, the higher your metabolism (thermic effect), plus the more you can eat the more fuel there is for you, allowing you to train harder, giving you a higher calorie burn, which allows you to eat more and add more lean muscle mass. It’s an ever increasing cycle that ensures as you ‘lose the pounds’, fat is the thing that gets burned and leaves you looking toned or ‘ripped’.

If, however, you go the other route and ‘lose weight fast’ then you will drop muscle tissue, lowering your metabolic rate (again over simplification to avoid the technicalities) meaning you have to eat less to be in a calorie deficit, which lowers the thermic effect (further reduction in metabolism) and gives you less energy for exercise and daily activities, lowering your calorie expenditure. So you then have to eat even less to continue losing weight. And the cycle continues.

The problem with the latter route is, it is in no way infinite.

Eventually you would run out of calories to eat.

So in other words, a more measured approach would be optimal for burning fat, improved body composition and keeping the fat of long term.

Not only that, but there is the issue of skin. Your skin is amazingly elastic, but it can only cope with change at a fairly slow rate. If you put on weight too quickly, your skin can’t keep up and you tear the skin (stretch marks) so similarly, if you lose the pounds too quickly, your skin won’t keep up and you end up with loose skin, which is far from attractive and a long way from looking toned or ripped.

Just remind yourself how long it took you to put those pounds on in the first place and realize that it will take a good percentage of that time to take it off if you want it to stay off and to ensure it is fat you are losing, leaving you looking trim and toned, rather than ‘skinny fat’.

Looking at the second word in the phrase ‘Weight’ – Is it really weight you want to lose?

Let’s imagine we have a female who is a size 20 dress size. Regardless of the weight, if it was possible to instantly change her shape to a more toned (zero flab) shape, suddenly slimming her down to a size 8 dress, yet the weight on the scale stayed exactly the same, do you think she would be complaining that she still weighed too much?

From the feedback I’ve had from some women, the answer might still be yes. But that is more because there is something ingrained in a lot of girls as they grow up that the scale is king. The fact is, scales tell you very little due to the fact they weigh everything – Bone, water, muscle, fat etc. And it doesn’t account for how in proportion these things are.

And because muscle weighs more than fat, then a loss of muscle tone would look better on your weighed result than a loss of fat. Similarly, improving your muscle tone and losing fat could end up with you weighing the same or even more, but looking so much better.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Use it or lose it”?

As you get older your body will adapt to whatever stress and strains you give it. If that is simply the odd walk, run or sports activity, but you spend a large amount of your time sitting at a desk or in front of the TV, then your body will do what it can to make life easier for itself and as muscle tissue is quite a heavy thing to carry around, it’ll drop the muscle as fast as possible. So what can often happen is you stay the same weight as you get older, but you look worse and worse as time goes on.

Why? Because the composition making up that weight is changing. You may have dropped a few pounds of muscle but added a bunch of fat and water to make up the weight.

So if someone in their 40s turns round and says smugly “I weigh the same as I did when I was 20” so what? Do they look the same? And if not, who cares?

So for most people, when it comes to losing weight, what they actually want to do is lose fat. Weight has little to do with it.

Just one last way to think of it – If you could lose 10 pounds in 5mins would you want to?

If you answered yes, then go get a saw and chop your arm off, that’s at least 10 pounds right there. Is that really what you meant when you thought about losing 10 pounds?

So finally, let’s look at the first word in our phrase – “Lose”.

Whilst this might be the true intention (to lose weight, lose fat, lose the pounds, lose water retention etc.) it is a poor choice of words and puts the focus in entirely the wrong place. It puts your mind in a place where it is focusing on the problem. You are now thinking of, in this case, the fat and what you think about most is ultimately what you’ll go towards. A better way of looking at it is to think of what you want. You want to [intlink id=”487″ type=”post”]tone up[/intlink], you want to get ripped, you want to get lean, you want a flat stomach etc etc.

If you can focus on what you want to achieve rather than what you don’t want, the chances of you getting there is so much higher.

So as you make your plans for a new, improved, physique, think of where you want to be long term. What you actually want to achieve. And take as long as is optimal to get there. Even if you have a short term goal, like a wedding, a party or a holiday, you should never be dieting or training at the expense of your long term results. There will be another event along soon enough that will then be your focus. But if you’ve gone about things the wrong way this time, chances are you will have added even more fat than you have now and slowed your metabolism in the process, making it much harder to lose the pounds of fat you have added all over again.

Your results should be forever not just for next month. Play the long game and never have to panic about how you are going to lose the pounds you want in time for the next event ever again.

Personal Training Coaching Nutrition and Fitness Glasgow

About the Author:

[intlink id=”11″ type=”page”]Mark Tiffney[/intlink] is a certified Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Fitness Instructor & Life Coach. (REPS Registered) with over 8 years experience in the sports, health,  fitness and exercise field.

If you are interested in having your diet evaluated or having a meal plan prepared for your body type, fat loss or muscle building goal or are looking for general help with your training of fitness goals, please contact Mark by emailing:

info@designsonyouself.com

Mark is also currently offering one to one [intlink id=”8″ type=”page”]Personal Training[/intlink] & Coaching sessions in Glasgow.

To arrange a free consultation, please call 0141 41 60 348 or email info@designsonyourself.com
(c) Dynamic Core Solutions Ltd

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Posted in Diet & Nutrition, Exercise, General | 2 Comments »

What is the best way to ‘Tone Up’?

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Whether you are looking for that Toned Female Body, Athletic Male Physique, Beach Body or any other kind of shapely figure involving improved muscle tone, there are a number of cliches that often get tied to them. And some are so common they should really get their own T-shirt.

The one that I hear constantly (especially from female trainers) is

‘I don’t want to get muscular, I just want to tone up’.

It’s a phrase that get’s used so frequently yet it is one that is so badly understood. So I really wanted to write something to try and clarify the issue once and for all.

Not only that, but rather than explain this another thousand times over the coming year, I can now just point people here and save the oxygen for more productive outputs.

The first thing about the phrase above is that it is almost an Oxymoron. To define toning and try to exclude muscle is just plain wrong. The word tone generally refers to colouring or shaping something to give it a different texture or feel. In this case that something is muscle tissue and therefore must, by its very definition, refer to doing some kind of muscular alteration work (i.e. resistance training).

But I think I should back up a little.

The big first question needs to be, ‘what do people mean when they say they want to tone up?’

I think the big problem is that toning means different things to different people, as it probably should. If you were talking about adding some tone to a photo, for example, one person might think that means adding definition and sharpness, another might think that is adding deeper shadows, brightness or colouring. And in essence they would both be right.

With muscle toning though, I feel the most common image is that of sleek, slender, firm and shapely figures.

No bulk, no flab and certainly not an almost skeletal, anorexic look.

The problem is that there is a common misconception that, to achieve that look, the type of training required is low weight, high rep work and it is one that just refuses to go away.

One reason for this might be that the sensation achieved is one where the muscle being worked burns in a way that it feels like it is getting a great workout, the muscle is getting stretched and ‘toned’ but without the bulk generated by heavy lifting.

Now don’t get me wrong, lifting with any weight to a point of lactic build up and muscular fatigue is going to cause some kind of muscle strengthening. But lifting in this way is far from the most efficient or effective way to do it.

I get the feeling that what most people think they are doing here is ‘hardening’ up that area. For example, I will often see girls bicep curling with 2-3kg dumbbells (or less!!!) thinking that it is going to firm up and ‘tone’ their upper arms.

Well I’ve got news for you girls. That wobble in your upper arms is FAT, pure and simple and no amount of bicep curling or tricep extensions are going to burn that fat off. Yes, you might strengthen the muscle behind the flab a little, but until you burn off the fat, through a negative calorie balance, you are never going to see it.

It’s a bit like the quest for a 6 pack. Many people will do constant crunches, sit ups, reverse crunches, oblique crunches etc. in the hope of ‘flattening’ their tummy. Yet it is the layer of fat over the top that is stopping that 6 pack from showing and by doing all those sit ups, at best you are building up a little muscle there, which in turn pushes the fat out further, making you look worse. At worst, you are screwing up your posture by causing an imbalance in your core muscles leading to back pain and even severe injury.

But I digress.

The fact is that to tone, you need to do two things. You have to burn off any fat covering the muscle belly and you have to have a muscle there to show. How you ‘shape’ that muscle is another matter, but the fact is that being ‘toned’ is having defined muscles. Big or small they have to be visible.

In searching for a definition of toning I found this one:

“Tightening or Firming of the muscles”

And I think that is an acceptable definition for most people. But unless you can see that muscle, then it doesn’t matter how tight or firm it is, it will make very little difference.

So what is the right answer?

Well there is no ‘right’ answer. There are simply methods that have been proven to work and then differing opinions on how to apply them. Fortunately, however, there are some key elements that are generally agreed upon.

First there is the use of compound movements.

Any multi joint movement is going to utilize more energy than a single joint movement – therefore it will burn more calories.

It will allow you to move more weight – therefore it will cause a greater stimulus to your muscles.

It will utilize more muscles – therefore you can work various muscles at once, saving time in the gym and getting a greater return.

The list goes on. But the thing to take away from that is that the core part of your workouts should involve multi joint (compound) movements, such as squats, deadlifts, pressing movements (Bench Press etc) and rows. That doesn’t mean go running to your gym and start doing these next time you are there, as there are down sides.

The fact that these movements are multi-joint means there is a greater degree of complexity to the movement and as a result, risk! So before you go loading up the squat bar, make sure you know what you are doing. Speak to someone who REALLY knows what they are talking about (not someone who THINKS they do) and get these movements right.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these movements are very taxing on your nervous system and as such, require more recovery than single joint movements. As such, training with these movements every day should be avoided and even one full day of recovery may not be enough (sometimes 3 or 4 can be required or in extreme cases a full week).

But the fact remains that these are the type of exercises you want to be including in your routine as soon as possible to get the best results.

As for weights and rep ranges, these will vary wildly from person to person. Remember, we are not all designed the same, there are short people, tall people, people with short limbs, long limbs, people who are naturally strong, naturally flexible, can easily burn fat, can easily build muscle, those that struggle to burn fat, people with limitations in their range of movement, people with poor posture or muscular imbalances and then there are other genetic factors that you could be blessed or cursed by.

However, as a general rule, I would consider 15 reps to be extremely high and would advise most people to be working at 12 reps or less for the majority of their training. Personally I prefer keeping below 6 reps for most exercises of this nature as I feel it is easier to stay focused on each rep at that range, whereas going for 8 reps and above can cause a lack of concentration, especially in the middle of the set, which leads to sub-optimal performance and a higher risk of injury.

I can already hear the screams of resistance!

“Below 6 reps is strength training!”

“Lifting that heavy (as would be required for a 6 rep or less maximum lift) will cause bulking!”

Etc. Etc.

Well let me just address this quickly. For the girls worried about adding mass by lifting heavy – get over it! It is simply not going to happen. 90% of women do not have nearly enough testosterone in their system (or put another way, they have too much Estrogen) to cause bulking no matter what weight you are lifting and even if you do have a the rare tendency to bulk, it is not going to happen overnight. If adding muscle size was that easy, body builders (and most male trainers) would be taking things much easier. Adding muscle is extremely hard and happens over a period of months & years, so if things start to go a way you don’t like, then just back off a little and alter what you are doing.

Secondly, big gains will generally only occur if your diet allows it. So if you have your diet in check (which I’ll come to in a minute) there should be no question of huge muscle mass occurring as the focus of your diet should generally be to lose fat.

Lastly, this notion that below 6 reps is for strength, 6-8 is for hypertrophy and 8+ is for either endurance or toning is really getting old and far too over used. Yes there are studies showing that the rep ranges described are ‘optimal’ for the results described, but that does not mean there is something magical that happens at those levels to create that change. Again, a lot is down to diet, much is down to genetics and it also matters how those weights are lifted.

If 6-8 is the ONLY way to achieve muscle hypertrophy, then have a look at Olympic lifters. They generally train with only compound movements in the 1-3 rep range. So they should be strong, but not big right? Well show me a small power lifter!

The bottom line is, for most people, lift big and lift powerfully for the most bang for your buck and if you are still set in your ways about lifting in only the ranges described above for each associated result, then off you pop and get on with it and don’t bother me with your short range, limited view of training.

Besides there are also studies showing lifting in the higher rep ranges cause almost as much strength gains as lifting in the lower rep ranges (especially in recreational lifters).

There is much more to it that that and there is a lot of tailoring that should be looked at from person to person, but covering all the bases is far too great a topic to cover in one article. If you need help on this, then I strongly suggest you find a fitness professional, coach, personal trainer, to help you optimize your workouts. It is an investment you will get huge returns from (and if that ‘professional’ starts going on about how you ‘must’ lift in the high rep ranges for toning, find yourself a better coach).

Though, I will be covering more specifics on this topic in future posts, so just keep checking back for more information.

As for the diet – again specifics are beyond the scope of an article like this, but there are two elements that are key for most people.

To burn fat you MUST be in a calorie deficit. How that is best achieved will vary wildly from individual to individual, but this Physics and cannot be worked around. If you are not in a calorie deficit, you are not going to achieve the losses you are looking for to uncover those toned muscles.

Secondly, you must have enough fuel to achieve the workouts. You can’t run your car without petrol and you can’t run your body without fuel. So severe calorie restrictions are out, as you will end up burning more muscle tissue than fat and your workouts will suffer. Also, that restriction in calories requires you to ensure you get the correct nutrients to keep functioning properly. So lots of fibrous veggies, no low carb dieting (so Atkins is a no no) as you need carbs to give you energy. Also, no points based diets. Your diets have to be balanced. So if you are on any kind of points based diet, get off it fast!They don’t work – Period! Yes you might see short term results, but in almost 100% of cases, the weight will come back with interest and while you may get smaller, you will not be getting ‘toned’.

Again there is much more to it than this and I will go into the elements of diet in greater detail in future articles.

But what I really want you to take away from this are the following points:

  • Ladies, don’t be scared to lift heavy – you are NOT going to turn into the hulk as a result and it will help you tone.
  • Get your diet in check – your diet determines the effect that your training will have and your results depend on getting this right for YOU and your body type.
  • Use compound exercises – this doesn’t mean never use isolation exercise, but the foundation of your workouts should always involve multi joint movements.
  • Get informed advice – If you want the most out of any workout, exercise or diet you should be carrying it out correctly and in a way that suits your genetic make-up, body type, hormonal reactions and lifestyle. You can achieve that in one of two ways. Trial and error or get the information from someone who has done the research for you. Either way, make sure you work on what works for you and not what works for someone else. You are an individual, treat yourself as one.
  • And above all, take action. You now have many of the tools to go and get started, so don’t continue to procrastinate. Every day you are not moving forward is a another day you are away from achieving your targets, so go and get started!

I hope this has been of use and has clarified many of the misconceptions on toning. If you have gained anything from it or have any comments or queries on this topic, please post them below.

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How hate can be turned on its head

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

Don’t be distracted by the title. If you clicked here thinking this might be about relationships or something similar then I’m sorry to disappoint. That said, I’m sure some of the things I’m going to mention might be applicable there as well.

When I sat down to write something it had been such a while since my last post (sorry about that if you’ve been waiting for something new – just been busy busy) that I had so many topics running through my head and so many notes and bits of information put aside for you that I didn’t know where to start. So I thought maybe a simple way to get something down was just to post a recent workout of mine that I thought worked well.

Then it hit me! In doing that I could give a very important piece of advice at the same time and a lesson I think is extremely important when it comes to training, fitness and getting to the results you are looking for.

So I’m going to do as I set out to do and give you a breakdown of one of my recent workouts that I feel worked fantastically well.

It’s a leg day workout and it involves Front Squats. However that is really neither here nor there. What I want you to know is that 3 or 4 months ago I hated front squats, so much so that the very idea of trying them made me cringe.

Now, regardless of the exercise, that probably rings true with you on some level. Am I right? At some point in your quest for health, fitness, leanness, a toned stomach or buns of steel, there has bound to have been a workout you dreaded, couldn’t be bothered with or thought was ‘too hard’. Or, at the very least, an exercise that you never put in your programme because you just don’t like it.

You may well have justified its absence to yourself (and no doubt others) in a way that makes you feel good about skipping it altogether, but in your heart of hearts you know that is the exercise, workout, class or activity you should really be doing.

You didn’t go running because “It’s bad for your knees” and you really needed to stay at home and do 10mins of abdominal exercises, when in reality it was raining and you didn’t feel like getting wet.

You don’t do squats when you are at the gym because “It’s bad for your back” when actually you’re just not adept at squatting and don’t want to embarrass yourself when the young girl in the size 6 leotard comes over and squats the same weight as you.

You don’t want to lift heavy weights because “you don’t want to get all bulky” when actually you just can’t lift anything heavier than a bag of sugar for more than 4 reps.

You can add your own in, but rest assured, at some point in your life (some more than others) you have done this.

With me it was front squats.

A few years back I had been back squatting around 160kg for 6+ Reps for a few weeks as part of my leg day and thought it was time to mix things up a little. I knew how good front squats were and that the guys that did them swore by them and I thought now was a good time to give it a try. I had read somewhere that a front squat weight would on average be around 70% of your back squat weight (which would be around 112kg) but despite the fact this was my first attempt, there were other people in the gym. I didn’t want them to see me with that on the bar. So 120kg was the weight I selected.

Needless to say I got about one decent rep out before the bar started rolling away from me.

BTW if you don’t know what a front squat is, you are essentially holding the bar across the front of your shoulders rather than behind the neck with your elbows high in order to stop the bar rolling forward. There are 2 common grips for this, the power lifting grip (which has your hands gripping under the bar at just beyond shoulder width with your elbows straight out in front as high as possible) or a bodybuilding grip (where your hands cross to hold the bar from the front, again lifting your elbows high). I tried both that day, but my grip of choice now is always the latter.

So I ‘humbly’ dropped the weight to 100kg and tried again. I think by this point I had two foam collars on the bar and a towel wrapped around it to try and take the discomfort off my shoulders.

This time I think I managed 5 very dodgy reps before re-racking and walking away to find my next exercise as if it was all planned.

It was years before I tried again.

Late Aug 2009 I decided enough was enough. This is a tool I should have in my training arsenal and I was going to master it.

I started with no weight on the bar and performed 8 reps as smoothly and as close to perfect form as I could manage. I then started adding 10kg at a time, each time aiming for 8 reps. If I made it I would go on, if not, I’d stop there and start at the previous weight next time and go from there.

I made it to a very humbling 60kg!

However, on my next leg day that 60 became 80kg and I vowed to get to 100kg before the end of the year.

I didn’t bother using pads, just steel on skin and I came out with bruises after every session. But each time the bruising was less and the pumped feeling in my quads became more.

I used a combination of straight sets and cluster sets to force the weight higher and by the end of October I was loving leg day. I looked forward to it before hand. I hated the pain during it (there is something so different about lower body workout pain to upper body) but afterwards I felt fantastic and that I had really achieved something. And then I reached my 100kg in mid November with around 6 weeks to spare.

And this is the point I want to make!

If you really want to make a difference! If you have a goal you genuinely want to achieve! Then that thing that you don’t want to do because you ‘don’t like it’ or ‘it’s just too hard’ or whatever other excuse you have given out for avoiding it, is probably the very thing you need to be doing. And if you can just be determined and stick with it for a few weeks (That’s right, doing it once is not an excuse to say “I tried it and I didn’t like it) make sure you are doing it the way it should be done; make sure you are giving it your complete attention; see the results it is going to bring you.

If you can do that, you might just find that the ‘hate’ you had in your mind for that one thing turns to love. Something you really look forward to. Something you can FEEL working for you.

And at that point, it’s probably time to change your routine and find something else to do!

Because if you are loving it, it’s probably too easy and you’ve adapted to it and you have to find a new way to challenge your body. But you will always be able to come back to it after a while and you now have another tool in your arsenal to use for the rest of your days.

So with that said, here is a note of my leg day workouts from that period taken from mid October.

I would point out that when I started in late August I was doing almost the same workout every 4 or 5 days and it was twice as long as this. After a few weeks I decided to split the workout in two. So I would do this session format, then a Back & Triceps day, followed by a rest day, then a shoulders, calves & abs day, then the other half of my original leg workout (tweaked a little), then Chest & Biceps, another rest day, before returning to this workout.

After following that path for a few weeks I realized my results were much better and my sessions much more focused.


(A1) High Box Squats – Worked up to 4RM (at 175kg)

(B1) Front Squats (Clusters) – (100kg) 5/5/5/5/5 Reps

(C1) Stiff Leg Deadlift – (90kg) 5/5/5 Reps

(D1) Lying Hamstring Curls – (32.5kg) 6/5/4 Reps

Notes:

I used the High Box Squats primarily as a primer for my quads. I set the box up just above knee level and started with just the bar. Squatting with my feet in a much narrower position that normal for a box squat (just inside shoulder width) to put the focus fully on my quads, I would then squat back to the box under control, pause for a couple of seconds focusing on relaxing my hip flexors, whilst keeping my core tight. Then driving up hard with my quads and repeating.

After around 10 reps, I took the weight to 60kg and did the same again. I then moved to 80kg and performed 5 reps and re-racked the bar. I was nowhere near failure and didn’t want to be. Remember, this is only really a warm up / primer. I repeated this process adding 5kg to the bar each time, taking just as much time as necessary to be fully recovered for the next set. (which was around the time it took to change the plates until the last few sets). At 175 I felt the 4th rep was a bit of a grind and so I re-racked the bar and got ready for the next exercise.

I should point out that I foam rolled before this and between sets for the first 3 sets just to be sure my muscles were loose and warm but not weakened through over stretching.

For the front squats, this was the first week I tried 100kg on the bar. I had gotten stuck at 92kg for 6 reps 2 weeks running and so switched to clusters to get used to the bigger weight. Last session I used 97.5kg.

The cluster sets I followed were 10 sec rests between reps. After 5 reps I would take time to fully recover (no more than 2mins) before repeating and managed 5 clean reps on all 5 sets.

I reduced the bar to 90kg for stiff leg deadlifts. My target was anywhere between 4 and 6 reps and it so happens I managed 5 on each set. Again taking as long as needed (under 2mins) to recover for each set.

With my hamstrings burning I moved on to Hamstring curls. I wanted to keep this heavy as I do slightly higher rep work on my 2nd leg day, so I loaded 32.5kg worth of plates on to the bench and focused on fully contracting each rep with as much force as possible (with good form) and then lowering under total control. On each set, as soon as that perfect form started to go and I was no longer in full control of the weight, I stopped and rested for the next set.

After some stretching it was time to head home with a feeling of a job well done. If I had to continue the session my focus would possibly have lapsed and I wouldn’t have had such a good feeling afterwards. So I’d suggest, when planning your programmes, sometimes it is necessary to push your limits, but it is easy to write out a huge programme that is going to hit every muscle fibre available, but that doesn’t make it the ideal choice.

Sometimes less is more.

Remember you don’t build muscle in the gym, you build it when you are recovering and if you can’t recover in time for the next session all you are doing is damage.

So now that I’ve been through all of this, have a think, is there something you know you should be doing as part of your routine? Maybe it’s something as simple as getting off the sofa and doing SOMETHING. Or maybe it’s a little more advanced than that. Either way, put the excuses behind you; leave your ego at the door and just resolve to get it done.

And if you just don’t know what to do, then the best thing you can do is hire a personal trainer. (erm – you’ll find my contact details at the bottom ;-p)

Remember, it’s OK to be yourself. Just be your BEST self!

Mark.


If you want to contact Mark about Personal Training, Coaching, Nutrition, Classes or anything else, please email – info@designsonyourself.com

 

Mark Tiffney is a fully qualified professional fitness instructor & personal trainer currently based in Glasgow. He also has qualifications in Circuit Training, Indoor Cycling (spin), Nutrition & Weight Management, Body Composition Analysis & even has a module in Golf.
This is along with his full qualification and experience in architecture as well as a background in football, ice hockey & squash (to name but a few).

Mark offers a professional service to those who are serious about achieving their fitness goals and promises to treat each client with the utmost respect and confidentiality.

“Your results are my command”

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So what is a ‘Fat Burning Zone’?

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

I was recently presented with a question on the ‘Fat Burning Zone’ as part of a forum discussion and my response ended up being an article in itself, so I thought I’d post it here in case someone else finds it useful.

The tone is a little rambling and it may not be all that structured, but I was just letting go, because it’s one of those ‘trueisms’ that just keep appearing again and again and one I thought there was more common knowledge about these days.

The original post read:

“I have been fat burning for 2 months now and seem to be wondering sometimes if I am wasting alot of time for nothing. I have lost about 1 st in this time from 18.7 down to 17.7stone, and need to get to 15 stone. I was in a bad accident 1 yr ago and when I came out of hospital with my shoulder and leg in casts I continued on my normal diet of pasta ect and not taking into account the amount of cal’s I am not using compared to what I did before my accident and this made me put on at least 2 1/2 stone over the year. I knew I shouldnt be eating as much but it was so hard not to due to the bordem .

The problem I have is 2 of my friends have gave me conflicting info and both of them are fitness instructors. I am 28 and 1 of my friends says I should be doing 60% of my max H/R for 1 hr a day which is about 115-116 beats per min…… well i now do 1hr 45 a day at this rate and I do feel the difference….. AND…

My other friend says i should be working at around 135-140 for 1hr for the best fat burning

 

I know how the fat burn process works ect, like you only burn sugar for the 1st 20 mins then u burn fat but I dont know what H/R’s to stick to”

My Response read:

“I’m going to try to answer this, but talk of a ‘Fat Burning Zone’ really drives me crazy because it adds confusion where there should be none (as you have clearly found out).

First of all, there is no magical heart rate where you suddenly start burning fat. You are always burning fat and carbohydrates (or glycogen) in every activity. What shifts is the balance between the two (or the focus). The slower and more laid back the pace, the more your body uses fat as its primary fuel source. As the intensity of your activity increases your energy source switches from Aerobic to Anaerobic and the fuel source becomes primarily carbohydrates (I’ll stick with that term as it is the macronutrient you consume and so will recognize it more freely – I don’t want to over confuse with the actual internal process).

However, even when carbs become the primary fuel source, your body will still be burning fat, just a much higher percentage of carbs.

The so called ‘fat burning zone’ is the zone that you work at where you are burning the most calories before reaching the point where this change in emphasis occurs (and it’s usually – though not always – around 60-70% of your Max HR).

There are several problems with that though:

1) The max HR calculation of 220-age is a huge generalization. Even the person who came up with it has since been quoted as saying it was just a theory and he didn’t expect people to take it so literally. That calculation can be vastly off. First off, women can usually get the heart rate higher than men during exercise (if at the same level of fitness).

Also, someone who is physically fit can raise their heart rate much higher during exercise (safely) than someone who is new to physical fitness. Therefore, if you are going to aim for this magical zone it would probably be best to use PRE (Perceived Rate of Exertion) as your guide [on a scale of 1-10 (10 being flat out) how hard are you working?] and you would aim for around 6-7/10 which is slightly out of breath but still able to hold a conversation without the sentences getting broken up.

2) Is burning fat during exercise the best solution? – Have a think about this. Your body will react to the demands you place on it. So, for example, if you lift weights, what you are actually doing is breaking down muscle. Your body then reacts by building that muscle back stronger than before in order to cope with that demand.

If you burn fat, therefore, what does your body do?

It tries to cover that demand for the future by trying to store more fat. Now if you keep pushing for longer each time and continue to train, that may not be a problem. But you can’t increase your output indefinitely. There are only so many hours in the day. And when you stop increasing your output level your body’s improved fat storing ability will catch up with you. And if you were to stop altogether, you would probably end up putting on more fat than you had to begin with. Therefore, if fat burning is your goal (as apposed to endurance running) then wouldn’t you be better teaching your body to store the nutrients you want it to and to let it realize the one thing it can do without is fat?

As a comparison – Imagine the physiques of an Olympic 100m sprinter and compare to that of a marathon runner. Which would you prefer to achieve?

Most people go for the sprinter, because they look more ‘toned’. That is because, whilst long distance runners are ‘skinny’ they still generally have quite a high body fat content and what they have lost is actually muscle tissue. The reason is that is what makes them more efficient long distance runners. (muscle weighs more than fat, fat is easier to carry around and is an acceptable fuel source, so that’s what is sticks with).

3) Calorie Balance – When it comes down to it, the only thing that matters when burning fat is the calorie balance. If you are burning more calories than you are consuming you will lose weight (and fat) if you are consuming more than you burn you will not (and may add weight). Therefore, the more calories you burn the better. Now, if you were to go out and go for a nice gentle stroll for half an hour the percentage of fat burned over carbs would be huge. The ratio is greatly in favor of fat burning at that level. If, however, you were to go and bust a gut sprinting for half an hour you would be burning more carbs than fat.

Does that mean you are more likely to burn more fat walking than sprinting for the same period? Absolutely not! In fact, even though you are burning more carbs than fat whilst sprinting, you are still burning more fat than you would be walking, you are just burning WAY more carbs. But over all, what you are doing is burning vastly more calories and that is what will help you achieve that deficit.

My last point is going to be about weight though – you say that you have lost 1stone and NEED to get to 15stone. Why? What is so magical about 15st?

Are you competing in a boxing competition?
Are you a jockey?
Are you doing some kind of activity that has a weight restriction?

If yes, then your comment is perfectly valid. However, if it is because you were 15st in the past when you looked good, that is not a valid reason. If you stuck your arm in a tractor’s wheel and ripped it off you would probably lose the weight you wanted to, but I’m guessing that’s not the look you are going for (But then maybe I’m just out of touch with the ‘in look’ these days).

However, if you were to add a little muscle (say 5lbs) and drop another 15lbs of pure fat, I think you’d find you’d look a lot better than you wanted to. But you will only have lost 10lbs more. The thing is, weight is not the issue – the amount of fat on your body is (remember, muscle weighs more than fat). I refer you back to the 100m sprinter and the marathon runner physiques. The marathon runner will weigh much less than the sprinter, but which physique looks healthier and more ‘toned’?

So in summing this up, my suggestion is to forget about fat burning zones.

When you go to train, with whatever you are doing, do it with an intensity befitting the results you want. If you are looking to burn fat and you have 40mins available, then work at an intensity that is befitting 40mins of HARD WORK. Push yourself and don’t leave anything in the gym (or on the track). If you have 20mins work even harder to squeeze the most out of your session. If, on the other hand, your goal is to run the London marathon, then train for endurance, forget the scales and just work on your technique and progression.

If you train hard and your diet is right you will get the results. At the end of it all, results are all that matters. Find what works for YOU and do that, even if it goes entirely against what the ‘science’ says ‘should’ work.

I hope that is of some use to you.

Rant ends.”

Hopefully that clears up a few issues and maybe clarifies some of the confusion regarding the subject and will allow for a more informed choice when it comes to your training regime.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time out to read my ramblings and I truly hope you are finding them useful.

Mark

Mark Tiffney is a certified Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Fitness Instructor & Life Coach. (REPS Registered)

If you are interested in having your diet evaluated or having a meal plan prepared for your body type, fat loss or muscle building goal or are looking for general help with your training of fitness goals, please contact Mark by emailing:

 

info@designsonyouself.com

 

Mark is also currently offering one to one Personal Training & Coaching sessions in Glasgow.
To arrange a free consultation, please call 0141 41 60 348 or email info@designsonyourself.com
(c) Dynamic Core Solutions Ltd

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How do you run?

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

It’s simple isn’t it? One foot in front of the other at a brisk pace!

But that’s not really the issue here.

Every commercial gym in the land is lined from wall to wall with treadmills. Running is the most calorie intense of the CV stations, so if you want to burn lots of calories, get on that treadmill, you are told.

But there is a road outside the gym, couldn’t you just run on that? It’s free and at least you feel like you are getting somewhere rather than putting in all that effort and not actually moving.

So why then are there so many treadmills in these gyms? And why are they always full? Even on the occasional bright summers day we are garnished with in the UK it is still common for people to be taking their summer stroll or jog on the mechanical device, under the air conditioning in front of a big screen TV.

Surely it’s just a question of taste? After all, it’s the same thing and you get the same results, so whatever feels more comfortable should be fine.

For many the advice would be that is not the case. Fitness advisors will often sing the praises of the treadmill over road running.

Road running is a heavy impact activity which can cause long term damage to your knees. Treadmills are cushioned to absorb the impact so it is a much safer option. You don’t have to deal with the weather, running in the wind & rain (despite the fact the forecast said bright sunshine for the next 3 days). The surface is even and true. And you don’t have to be mindful of your own safety from muggers after your ipod or inattentive drivers when you cross the road.

Yes, treadmills are the way to go – technology over antiquated methods are clearly the more sensible option.

Well lets look at this a little deeper.

What happens when we run?

Firstly we extend one leg out in front of us using our quadriceps (thigh muscles). We then bring the foot down and make contact with the ground. At this point the posterior (rear) muscles take over pulling and flexing the leg in order to propel us forward as the other leg extends out to repeat the sequence.

So very simplistically, when we run we are constantly performing leg extensions followed by leg curls, working the muscles on both sides of the leg while at the same time expending energy and working our heart and lungs.

However, on a treadmill this is not the case. On a treadmill, we extend our leg as we would normally, but upon connecting with the belt of the treadmill, it takes over and rather than propelling our bodies forward with the posterior leg muscles, the belt does this work for us by pulling the foot backwards. Essentially, as far as our leg muscles are concerned, we are doing half the work we usually would and we are only using the anterior (front) muscles to do it.

Since the uptake of pedometers over recent years, 10,000 steps per day has been a much hyped goal for improved health in most people. So imagine if you were to take those 10,000 steps on a treadmill. That would equate to 5,000 leg extensions on each leg with little effort being exerted by the posterior chain to balance that out. This means, firstly, less calories burned due to fewer recruited muscles and secondly, the imbalance is likely to cause stress, particularly to the knee.

This goes somewhat against the argument that treadmill running is safer than outdoor running as far as your joints are concerned.

But there’s more to consider:

According to a study by the University of East London (1998) the hip flexion angle increases significantly (particularly in women) when running on a treadmill. Hip and knee flexion angles have to increase to bring the hip through the stride causing a tightening and fatigue of the hip flexor muscles. As a result technique alters automatically to counter this weakness causing poor form. This fatigue and substitution pattern can also cause knee pain, compounding the issue of the imbalanced muscle development.

Further, if your goal is to become a better runner (perhaps you have decided to run a charity race or even a marathon) then specificity is extremely important. Simply put, when training for any specific event, your training should match your goal as closely as possible. The physical differences already mentioned (surface type & elements such as the wind) mean that training on a treadmill does not in fact mirror the road running involved of these events.

Not only that, but the simple elimination of elements such as the wind makes for a significant decrease in your workload (as much as 10%) meaning the workload is less efficient and in turn will burn fewer calories.

The uneven surfaces are also a contributing factor in this and can further be of benefit to your balance and neuromuscular conditioning, which is critical to your development as a runner as well as increasing that all important calorie burn.

Another inequality shows up in stride length. There are varying opinions on whether stride length is generally different when running on a treadmill as apposed to outside. One of the few detailed studies on this came up with some very interesting results. It would appear that, whilst experienced runners increase their stride lengths when running on a treadmill, inexperienced runners do the exact opposite and shorten their stride length when compared with running on the road.

It does make sense that experienced runners will utilize the additional energy they have available from the belt taking some of the workload, where inexperienced runners will shorten their stride as a result of apprehension due to the moving parts of the machine.

Whatever the reason though, it is clear that the techniques employed to run on a treadmill do not equate to those utilized when running on the road.

To add more fuel to the fire, researchers have also found that when the foot lands on the belt of a treadmill, the foot, ankle and shin, become temporarily part of the belt and move backwards from the centre mass of the body at the same speed (which makes sense). However, this means the shinbone is not as upright as with normal running and is forced into a greater range of motion, which in turn can lead to stress of both the bone and it’s supporting muscles (causing a tight feeling often referred to as shin splints or worse)

All the above is not to say running on a treadmill should be avoided entirely. As a means of warming up or an occasional CV workout it is as good as any other you might find in your gym. Also, for rehabilitation or corrective training, running in front of a mirror can be most useful in ensuring good foot placement and action.

Also, during the winter months in particular, the risks involved with running outside may well outweigh the benefits, in which case using a treadmill would be a good alternative to avoid losing ground on your training.

However, if you are training specifically for running I would suggest a good set of running shoes appropriate to your feet & running style (advice can be obtained from your local running shop) and head outside.

If your concern is burning calories and you would rather stay indoors, I’d suggest you would get more benefit from circuit style training where a good balance of muscle groups can be catered for. You can get your heart rate up just the same and ensure opposing muscle groups are equally worked, which will not only burn more calories in the long run, but will help prevent injury and make you functionally fitter.

Yes, impact is a concern for road running, but if you gave a good pair of running shoes, that should be limited. I would still advise varying your routine and like all things exercise related, keeping a healthy balance to your training.

In short though, treadmills have their place, but the next time you go to get on one, stop and have a look outside. There’s a whole world out there to explore, places you miss in your every day commutes. Why not get out there, get some fresh air in your lungs, some vitamin D and all the additional benefits associated with road running? At least you’ll feel like you’re getting somewhere

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