The health and fitness industry is full of myths and fallacies regarding training mostly based on emotion. Thing is some people believe in these so much you could almost mistake it for another religion.

All my Personal Training and Boot Camp training programs are based on scientific principles and not somebody’s unfounded emotional opintion or some massive supplement company out to make a quick buck by manipulating  the truth. Remember these companies pay marketing houses massive amounts of money to help relieve you of your hard earned cash. So oftentimes the only thing losing weight is your wallet!

Over the next few articles I’m going to cover some common myths that I’ve come accross recently with regards to training and nutrition. I’ll start with a quick list a quick list of the more common ones before I pull it apart and give your the TRUTH.

1. Women who lift weights get big bulky muscles
   
2. Your lean toned muscles will turn to fat if you stop lifting weight
3. Specific exercises are great for toning muscles
4. Specific exercises are great for ’spot reduction’
5. Lifting light weights for high reps is great for ‘toning’
6. Men can get ‘muscle bound’ and can’t move around
7. Men and women need different exercise programs
8. Children should not lift weights
9. Specific exercises help ’shape’ a muscle
10. Specific exercises can help ‘cut up’ a muscle
11. You can train different ections of a muscle
12. You can eat and drink protein powders to build extra muscle
13. You ‘must’ take supplements to enhance muscle strength, power and size
14. You can take fat metabolisers, fat burning pills anduse cellulite cream to burn unwanted body fat
15. You should go on a diet if you want to lose weight
16. You should stop strength training if you are pregnant
17. You should not lift weights if you have arthritis
18. You should not lift weights if you have diabetes
    

Women who lift weights get big bulky muscles

Ok so lets knock this one on the head straight away. Women do not have the neccessary levels of testosterone and growth hormone required to increase lean muscle mass dramtically naturally. The majority of women only have the ability to replace the muscle tissue they have lost naturally since the age of about 20. At most an increase of a couple of kilograms of lean muscle tissue, above and beyond what your genetics determines may occur in a small percentage of a very few lucky women.

Lucky because this increase in muscle tissue will results in a faster metabolism therefore speeding up the bodies fat burning ability and slowing down the ageing process.

Ok, so suppose you have increased your muscle tissue by 5lbs over and above your genetic potential you are still not going to be bulky. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, if you are training hard, are ingesting calories congruent with your training goals (which for most women is weight loss), then you going to lose weight due to the increased calorie burn from the extra muscle. Its like putting a supercharger on your car, it will burn more petrol.

Another factor that would prevent you bulking up is the fact that muscle tissue takes up 1/3 the space of body fat. So if you gained 5lb of lean muscle and burned off 5lbs of fat then yes you would weight the same on the scales but as we know the scales lie but you clothes would be looser due to your decreased body fat. Next time you are in the super market why not put it to the test. Get 1lb of lard and compare it to 1lb of lean steak.

So the take home message from this is: don’t be afraid to lift weights if your goal is weight loss. Set your training up  in a circuit fashion to help you burn more fat and not only will you lose weight and get in great shape, you wont bulk up!

I’ll be back in a couple of days with Training Myth 2: Your lean toned muscles will turn to fat if you stop lifting weights

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

Exercise is always a do-it-yourself venture. No other person and no machine can do it for you. Hence, it is important to have those motivating factors so that a person who is into exercise in order to lose weight will hang about.

This is what people who are overweight should learn to understand. However, even if it so easy to set for instructions and easy to follow, this is not the same case for almost 35% of people who are unable to prevent being overweight.

Of course, once we are overweight, we usually want to trim down for a whole lot of reasons, some related to physical condition and fitness, while others would want to enhance their physique and appearance. And it is never too late to be fit.

In the past 50 to 75 years, physical activity has become the exception rather than the rule, both at home and on the job. People tend to drive where others once walked. People tend to flick a switch and machines do the hauling, lifting, pushing, and pulling for them.

However, people who try to lose weight tend to believe that weight gain is likely to happen if they will not take forward-looking steps to stop it.

The point here is that health experts believe that people lose their way, especially when it comes to dieting. They tend to go back to their old eating habits even after they learn to enjoy low-fat eating. They tend to return to sedentary ways even though they enjoy exercising.

But despite the momentum toward weight gain, you can stop it from happening, experts say. And there are plenty of good reasons to avoid excess pounds, reasons that go beyond vanity or social appearance. There are many reasons in order to keep you motivated to exercise and stay healthy for the rest of your life.

Ways to Lose Big

1. Have an explicit goal

A simple statement like, “I want to lose some weight,” is an ambiguous and an indefinite statement. It will not the least motivate you to start doing exercises right away.

What is important is to be precise on your goals. It would be better if you will set some detailed amount of pounds that you really want to lose. Envisage yourself what you will look like after reaching your desired weight. Doing this will inspire you to lose weight. In fact, maybe even more than what you have planned in mind. The idea is to use that figure to assist you to remain resilient and dedicated.

2. Develop a strategy

Strength of will does not work alone! To lose weight and stay with it, your strategy must comprise of both exercise and diet, and not either of the two.

Try to start motivating yourself by throwing away your clothes that have bigger sizes. This will put you in a situation where you only have your sexy clothes and that you have to make a choice by staying motivated to exercise or not wear any clothes at all. Which do you prefer?

3. Make out little, calculable measures

Put into practice actions that will suit your lifestyle. This means you have to implement moves that you and you alone will benefit from it and not somebody else.

The idea here is to opt for a more positive and attainable goal and not just to shun away from being plump and chubby.

4. Produce monitoring that has an important effect

It would be better to have somebody willing to take note of your progress or development. This will inspire you to keep on doing what you have started. Having somebody to listen to your achievements is definitely a better prize than just achieving your goal alone.

Besides, having an extra hand to support you and cheer for you when things start to fall short. It is that simple way of hearing somebody believing on what you do is one of the greatest motivations to keep you exercising for more.

5. Construct a vigorous, sensible timeline

What do you plan to achieve in a year? Try to suit your objectives to your calendar, and do not look forward to see the results in just a snap.

The bottom line is that in order to stay motivated to exercise entails a lot of hard work, which is contrary to what most people tend to think. The main idea is to let people change their lifestyle because it is only through this way that they will absolutely change their weight…for the better.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

My workout today consisted of two mini circuits. In the first circuit I did an elevated ab workout with my feet up on the bench and hands on kettlebells. The circuit consisted of the following four exercises:

Press Ups

Mountain Climbers

Renagade Rows

X-Body Mountain Climbers

The video below shows the workout.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcHk5-dpm5k[/youtube]

Part two of the workout consisted of various kettlebell swings. Check the video below to see what I did.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEN3XlpxByw[/youtube]

Give the workout a go and leave a comment below.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

A quick workout today of kettlebell swings and press up variations.

Perform the following exercises in the order shown without rest. At the end of the 8 exercises take 1 minutes rest and repeat 1-2 more times.

Kettlebell Swings

Burpees

Kettlebell Swings

T-Press Ups

Kettlebell Swings

Gecko’s

Kettlebell Swings

Press Ups

Watch the video to see how its done

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XsTywu4KD8[/youtube]

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

There will be days (everyday?) when you don’t feel like doing your workout.

Some days you won’t want to get out of bed early.

Sometimes you don’t want to leave your office because you feel like you have too much left to do (but this is when you need a workout the most!).

Then there’ll be times you don’t want to end of play time with the kids to have to make time for your workout.

This even happens to me.

But I how great I feel after my daily workout.

And at the end of the day I make my living by being in shape and I have to lead by example.

If you are set on achieving a fitness goal, then when its workout time, come hell or high water you’ve got to knuckle down and do the job done.

So I’m giving you 7 tips to get you motivated for your workout and to keep you inspired to get you through your workout.

1) Reward yourself. After you finish your workout treat yourself to a relaxing bath, an episode of your favourite TV show or some time with the family.

2) Why not set up a punishment for missing workouts. If you skip the workout, put £10 into a jar to spend on DIY, think of it like a swear jar for missing your exercise appointment. Make sure your spouse controls the jar.

3) Write your goals down Until you put your goals down into black and white they are not goals. If they are only in your head then they are merely dreams. Commit them to paper and read them everyday and night. By constantly keeping your goals fresh in your mind it will help you to stay on track.

4) Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often travelling to the gym after you have been home for a few hours. Make the effort to go to the gym even if you don’t feel like it. Once you get to the gym you will be less likely to skip a workout. Once you get there tell yourself, “I’ll just go in and do 1 set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go”. Next thing you know, you’ll have done the entire workout.

5) Visualize yourself once you have achieved your goals. Be visualizing your new body you will feel inspired to workout. Think of your workouts as a step in the right direction to a new fitter, healthier you. Conversely every time you miss a workout is a step in the wrong direction.

6) Take your MP3 player with you. Seriously, nothing motivates you more than working out to some upbeat music. Some of my friends swear by the Rocky soundtrack!

7) Get social support. If you have a workout partner, chances are you’ll feel bad if you let them down. Or let me hold you accountable by signing up for online personal training.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc