What you need to know about Weight Training for a strong lean body that both looks good and is injury resistant
by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Working as a personal trainer & fitness professional, there is one type of question I get all the time that shows that many people are missing the big picture regarding the benefits of strength training. This popular question usually goes something like this:
“What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice – abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?”
It doesn’t matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to ‘isolate’ it. My first response to this question is always – “Why in the world would you want to isolate it?”
The first thing I try to teach my clients is that the body does not work well in muscle isolation. Rather, it works better in movements along a kinetic chain; that is, large portions of the body assist other portions of the body in completing a complex movement. In fact, there really is no such thing as true muscle isolation. There is almost always a nearby muscle group that will assist in some way with whatever movement you are doing. However, this article compares attempting to ‘isolate’ body parts via single-joint exercises to the much more effective strategy of performing multi-joint complex movements.
When you attempt to ‘isolate’ muscles by performing single-joint exercises, you are actually creating a body that is non-functional and will be more prone to injury. Essentially, you are creating a body that is a compilation of body parts, instead of a powerful, functional unit that works together.
Now if you really want to end up hobbling around in a body bandaged up with joint problems, tendonitis, and excess body fat, then by all means, continue trying to ‘isolate’ body parts. On the other hand, if you would rather have a lean, muscular, injury-free, functional body that works as a complete powerful unit to perform complex movements (in athletics or even everyday tasks), then you need to shift your focus away from muscle isolation.
Believe me, focusing on how well your body functions will give you the side effect of a body that looks even better than it would have if you focused on muscle isolation. For example, take a look at the physiques of any NFL running backs, wide receivers, or even world class sprinters. Trust me when I say that these guys pretty much NEVER train for muscle isolation (their strength coaches wouldn’t be crazy enough to let them), yet they are absolutely ripped to shreds! Just look at guys like Maurice Green or Terrell Owens and tell me who wouldn’t want a physique like those guys.
Another benefit to moving away from the ‘muscle isolation’ mindset in weight training to a more ‘complex movement’ mindset is that you will find it much easier to lose body fat. The reason is that by focusing more on multi-joint complex movements as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation lifts, you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone.
Let’s look at an example. The machine leg extension is a single joint exercise that works mainly the quadriceps, can potentially cause knee joint instability in the long run, and doesn’t even burn that many calories. On the other hand, exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts are all multi-joint complex movements that work hundreds of muscles in the body (including the quadriceps) as a functional unit, create more stable and strong joints in the long run (when done properly), and also burn massive quantities of calories compared to the single-joint exercises.
Now although I do feel that multi-joint exercises should comprise the majority of your weight training workouts, I also think that there can be some benefits with just minor inclusions of single-joint exercises for variety, etc. I choose to build my training programs with about 90-95% multi-joint exercises and about 5-10% single-joint exercises at most.
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Whether you’re brand spanking new to the gym or a decorated veteran, there are certain things everyone needs to live by to get along in the same environment.Let’s get real here.Other people gross us out.You can admit it.Don’t be offended by what you’re about to read.It’s all meant for the greater good.We all have pet peeves and here are some that rank amongst the top offenders.So spill the beans.Are you guilty?
1)If you sweat all over the equipment, wipe it off!This is the gym version of “If you break it, you buy it.”If your sweat trickles down your body and finds itself comfortably pooled on a bench or elliptical that others are going to use, clean it up.I’m sure we’re in agreement that we don’t want strangers’ bodily fluids infiltrating our personal space without invitation!
2)Rack your weights!Not everyone is as strong as you nor does anyone else want a temp job as your janitor.You know who you are.If you use a weight, put it back.Ten plates a side on the leg press is a pain in the butt for anyone to put away.At least you got the benefit of growing your wheels with those weights!Don’t make other people do your dirty work for you.
3)Pick a weight and use it—not the entire collection of dumbbells!Many people have to use the same weights.That means we all have to share.Pick a set—or two if you must—and use them.Don’t pile five pairs of dumbbells around your bench and tie them up so no one else can use them.
4)Return weights to their proper place!No, 5-pound dumbbells don’t typically belong in between the 75-pound and 80-pound sets.They typically go from lightest to heaviest and don’t skip and jump around.You want a quick, intense workout and don’t want that to include a frustrating 30-minutes of weight-searching.
5)Use the equipment and move on.Don’t take calls, text or have long, drawn-out conversations while sitting on the equipment.It’s a place of fitness, not a nightclub.
6)Don’t spit in the steam room, sauna or pool.OK, I know this seems like common sense but I can’t tell you how many people I hear clearing their throats with that deep, gurgling, productive noise and spitting it on the gym floor.Quite simply, that’s disgusting and you should know better.
7)Wear shoes in all common areas.Flip flops are cheap.Get a pair and wear them in the wet areas.Who knows what people have growing on their feet?Do you want that touching you?I think not.
If you make a mess in the locker room, pick it up.I know gyms claim they have a cleaning crew come in everyday but we all know that’s just not the case or there wouldn’t be dust bunnies around the locker bases.Let’s not add to the daily mung.Throw away your trash and pick up the stuff you spill.It takes two seconds.
9)Grunting like a wounded pack of pigs is completely unnecessary when lifting weights.I understand hitting it hard and I understand sometimes a grunt here or there pops out.But come on, when you sound like Tim-The-Toolman-Taylor on steroids and high as the stratosphere, you look like an idiot, not a man of steel.
10)Don’t stand in the doorway of the sauna and have a conversation while the door’s open.It’s hot in there and we’d like to keep it that way.Letting in all of that room-temp air defeats the purpose and is just plain inconsiderate.
11)Flexing at the gym is a joke.I’m not talking about admiring a great pump or looking to see if you’ve made improvements.I’m talking about getting up close and personal with the mirrors, pulling your shorts up so you look like you’re wearing a teeny bikini, and standing there for ten plus minutes flexing.It’s a joke.The only people I ever see doing that are spindly looking worms.Are you one?
12)Don’t put Mr. Bubble in the hot tub!I have seen mountainous bubbles in the hot tubs of every gym I’ve ever used.Aside from the fact that it’s actually kind of funny, it takes days, even weeks, to fix it correctly.Besides, there are cameras watching you in those areas.They know who you are.
13)Wear underwear if you’re going to be wearing short shorts and stretching.Like Seinfeld said, there’s good naked and there’s bad naked and a bout of underwear-less stretching just isn’t anyone’s idea of good naked.Enough said.
14)While we’re on the subject of good naked versus bad naked…wait until you’ve got the body you’ve always dreamed of to flaunt your stuff in the locker room.I understand getting undressed is necessary and normal.What I don’t understand is why the only people walking around completely naked for 30 minutes at a time, putting on make-up, blow drying their hair, reading a book (I’m not even kidding) and watching TV, are the ones even Roseanne Barr would want to cover up.Please, for the sake of humanity, get naked, get dressed and be done with it already.The locker room is not your local nudist colony.
And finally, it’s here—the pièce de résistance.
15)Make sure you’ve showered and have clean clothes when you go the gym!And good grief, wear some deodorant!When you walk by and people are parting like the Red Sea, you or your clothes need a wash—perhaps both!If you’re using, say, an exercise bike and five people have spent two minutes each on the bike next to you and suddenly then left in the middle of their workout, you probably stink.If people’s eyes are watering and their mouths are pursed like they’ve just sucked a lemon, it might just be you.Never, ever, ever wear the same clothes to the gym without washing them first.And, since that needed to be stated, I’ll put this out there, too.Never, ever, ever store sweaty gym clothes in your gym bag and wear them again the next workout!This is just rank and I’m not kidding when I say people can smell you from a mile away.
There you go.Someone had to say it and it might as well have been me.We all want to look like gods and goddesses and we all know it’s going to take effort to get there.So, let’s make it easier on all of us.Follow these simple acts of decency and we’ll all get along just fine.We might even start to enjoy it!
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The only way to lose fat faster is to cut it out with a knife!
High Intensity Interval Training
The Secret Weapon for Ripped Abs
There are literally millions of Internet searches per day related to ripped abs. Marketing gurus have assaulted us with ad after ad showing people with a perfectly sculpted mid-section enjoying unbelievably successful lives. Promises of visible “abs” with only ten minutes per day of exercise fill the informercial space. People, somehow though, are still struggling to see the ends of their toes when they look down. There is a way of getting ripped to the bone. It doesn’t require ANY special equipment, although a stop watch is nice. It doesn’t require you to attach electrical devices to your abdominal area.. It doesn’t even require you to step into a gym, although, you will look better, and do this faster if you do. Most of all, it doesn’t require you to buy anything from me! I’m just going to share this with you. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the most effective weapon available for your fat burning arsenal. When done correctly, HIIT will trim your mid section and rip your abs faster than any abdominal machine on the market today, any diet pill, or any other dietary supplement. What do I mean by “done correctly?” There are four elements to the proper execution of an HIIT workout:
• What HIIT is
• Intensity Rating
• Duration
• Frequency
To many, Six Pack Abs are the ultimate symbol of fitness. Your abs start to show when you’ve lost enough body fat for the separations to show through. For a man, that’s about 10% body fat, for a female, it’s about 15%. At these percentages, you should be able to see your FLEXED abs under the fat. Everyone’s different, so if you’re at 10% and they’re not showing, don’t worry. Abdominal exercises, such as crunches, don’t burn a lot of calories, so they’re not much help in getting rid of the fat that’s hiding those illusive muscles of the mid section. Enter our secret weapon.
HIIT is a very simple exercise routine to follow. You jog at a very slow and comfortable pace for an interval, then run all out, as hard as you can possibly push for an interval. Use the following example:
0:00-2:00 minutes: Easy jog
2:00-2:30 RUN HARD!
2:30-4:30inutes: Easy jog
4:30-5:00 RUN HARD!
5:00-7:00 minutes: Easy jog
7:00-7:30 RUN HARD!
7:30-8:00 minutes: Easy jog
8:00-8:30 RUN HARD!
8:30-9:00 minutes: Easy jog
9:00-9:30 RUN HARD!
You continue the above pattern for 20 minutes.
I mentioned earlier that this workout is simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, if you find it easy, you’re not doing it correctly. The high intensity portions of my HIIT sessions are intense enough o give me a metallic taste of ketones in my mouth. I don’t recommend you use this as your measurement of intensity, but it shows how intense this can be. Your low intensity intervals will be easy enough to carry on a “breathy” conversation. The high intensity portion are as high as you can possibly push, then add a notch! You need to push as hard as you would if you were running for your life. In fact, if you do this workout with enough intensity, you will be completely wiped out after 20 minutes.
Your intensity will determine the duration of HIIT. The maximum time you should spend is 20 minutes. You should not be able to do any more than that. If you can do longer than 20 minutes, you quite honestly did not push hard enough. At the end you should be absolutely spent.
These patterns of intensity and the duration cause your body to burn more calories for the next 24-48 hours. That’s the beauty of HIIT. You may only burn 400 calories during the 20 minutes, but you’ll continue to burn at an increased rate for the next day or so.
Any high intensity workout requires a recovery period. You can repeat this workout three times per week. Anything more than that will cause you to become over-trained and stifle your fat loss.
If you do nothing more than HIIT, you will burn plenty of fat. It should, however, be integrated into a complete fitness program.
If you have to cut calories to lose weight, why not just skip a meal here or there? I mean, really, the less you eat the more you lose, right?
The answer, my friends, is a loud and obnoxious NO! Never, ever, ever skip meals in an effort to lose weight. Skipping meals only makes you fat. I know, it’s the opposite of what you’d think but check this out.
Eating actually helps your metabolism. Eating often helps it even more. You see, even though we know it’s the year 2008, our bodies still think we’re back in a time when food was scarce. That’s definitely not the case now with a fast-food joint on every corner. Our pantries are stocked full of easy access foods ready to pop in the microwave for immediate gratification. We don’t have to hunt for our food anymore. We don’t have to gorge ourselves in preparation for times of famine. We are gluttonous by decision so why can’t our bodies seem to catch up with the times?
Muscle, although attractive and nice to the touch, is actually very costly in times of famine. One pound of muscle requires 50 calories a day just to survive. Fat, on the other hand, requires no calories to survive. It’s just an endless storage space for energy. Since our bodies don’t believe we live in times of plenty, when we go hours and hours without eating, our bodies start preparing for the famine. It uses muscle mass as fuel instead of tapping into those fat storages. It actually starts holding onto fat.
What’s the problem with this? Well, like I wrote above, muscle is metabolically extremely active tissue and in today’s times, we definitely want that. We live to eat-and we do it well. If you want to continue to be able to eat a lot of food and maintain your weight instead of gaining, you need muscle-lots of it. Now, I’m not talking about looking like Arnold. That’s not necessary-albeit very nice. But, you want to have a decent amount of lean mass so you’ve got a metabolism that’s always burning on high.
So, what does all of this have to do with skipping meals? When you skip a meal, your body thinks it’s time to conserve. That means putting a damper on your metabolism. That means using muscle mass for fuel and holding onto the fat. Your body needs to be fueled about every three hours or else it starts to use muscle for fuel. Not fat. Muscle. Without even knowing it, you’re sabotaging your diet and getting fatter with every meal you skip.
Now, come on. How can you be getting fatter with every meal you skip? Well, let’s put it this way. Let’s say you skip breakfast every morning like so many do. And, let’s say you ate a snack around 10:00 the night before. Now, you’re sitting down on your lunch break to enjoy a quick meal. It’s noon. You’ve just gone 14 hours without eating!
Wait a minute-14 hours is a long, long time to go without any food. Your body is literally cannibalizing itself to survive! Gross, isn’t it? What’s worse is that if you’ve maintained your weight for a while, and, have continually skipped breakfast, your body fat percentage is higher than it was before you started skipping the most important meal of the day. So, you may be the same weight but your body is spongier, softer and bigger. And you thought skipping meals was helping!
Listen up and listen hard. NEVER SKIP MEALS. Just don’t do it. I know you’re busy and life is hectic with your full schedule. Fruit packs well and is quick and easy. Jerky is a great on-the-go protein source and it keeps forever. Even if you eat a spoonful of peanut butter instead of skipping a meal, do it.
Don’t take this as a invitation to stop at Burger King when in a bind and don’t take this as an excuse to shovel junk in your mouth instead of skipping a meal. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is to be prepared. Have easy-access foods available in your car for emergencies. Keep easy, healthy food at home that you can take with you on the way out the door. Bananas are excellent for this!
Now, if you’re planning to skip meals, change your plan. Seriously. You’re killing your metabolism and making it more and more difficult each time you try to lose weight. No one wants that. So, sit down and eat. Don’t ever skip another meal and know you’re doing your metabolism a great service by eating!
A route cannot be planned between two unknown points. Project Managers use the acronym S.M.A.R.T. to help determine whether a task is broken down enough to be added to the schedule. It stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Constrained.
A goal can be considered specific if it cannot be broken down further. For example, “I want to lose weight” can be further broken down to “I want to lose five pounds.” This is very important. Without specificity, a goal is not objective.
A goal is measurable if the resultant condition can be observed or measured by a disinterested party or a piece of equipment. “I want to lose weight” does not meet this criterion. A disinterested party may or may not see weight-loss, and it is not quantifiable. The result of “I want to lose five pounds” can be easily measured with a scale.
Attainability is almost the most important element of the SMART goal for fitness. If the goal is not attainable It is too easily abandoned. “I want to lose 150 lbs of fat and gain 275 lbs of lean body mass by 31 December of this year.” is possible if you divorce one spouse and marry another, much larger, leaner model. But, it’s not attainable in a fitness sense. To be realistic people should start at a 1.5-lb per week fat loss, or a 2-lb lean mass gain per month. Some will find that larger losses or gains are possible. Please don’t tie yourself to a goal which is unattainable.
Whether a goal is attainable or not, it must be realistic. Many goals are attainable given extraordinary conditions or pharmaceutical help. That does not make it realistic. For fitness goals, you should concentrate, first, on the guidelines in the attainable paragraph.
Time-Constraint simply means that a goal has a time limit. A goal can be time-constrained by calendar dates or by a quantity of time. Both of the following time constraints are valid:
12 weeks 31
October 2007
Without a deadline, a goal has absolutely no power. The project team that put man on the moon had a time-constraint. The team of scientists that built the first atomic bomb had a time constraint. Without a time constraint it is too easy to put something off. Commitments must be bound to a specific time.
When you tie these all together you have what separates a GOAL from a VISION. A goal without all of the above elements is not a goal. It is a vision. Vision statements are fine for the family and friends. For your contract to yourself, a vision statement doesn’t mean squat. The following examples will illustrate the power of SMART:
“I will gain 15 lbs of muscle in two months.”
Let’s test this goal using the SMART technique.
Is it Specific? YES
Is it Measurable? YES
Is it Attainable? Perhaps with the proper pharmaceutical help. YES
Is it Realistic? NO
Is it Time-Constrained? YES
Since there is a NO in the test this is not a good goal. It must be altered. In concept it’s a good goal, so with a simple adjustment it looks like this:
“I will gain 5 lbs of muscle in two months.”
Is it Specific? YES (5 lbs)
Is it Measurable? YES (with a scale and skin-fold calipers)
Is it Attainable? YES (with proper nutrition and legal supplementation)
Is it Realistic? YES (This can be done with a lot of work.)
Is it Time-Constrained? YES (2 months)
This simple test “SMART” will reduce the risk of a failed attempt at fitness. Writing a proper SMART goal is key to successful completion of a program. It is not the only part though. Before a goal can be set an accurate self-assessment must be performed. Remember that the Goal is the destination of a journey. A route can only be planned when the starting point is known.
For more information on SMART Goals, please feel free to email Tim or Amy at: info@fitness-advice-guide.com.
When you tie desired results to specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-constrained goals sets you up for success. The SMART goal is the destination of your journey. Without it you don’t know where you are going.
For more great information regarding fat loss, please visit: No Nonsense Fitness
We’ve all had it done to us.
Heck, I’d bet we’ve all done it to someone else. We meet someone, start dating them and start doing those nice “little” things, those little extras. Oh sure, there are good intentions behind this. Nobody is “trying” to mislead the person they are dating. The resulting disappointment cannot be avoided. It’s the courtship period, that period of time when we do things to impress a perspective partner. We’re not going to have to do it forever. After all, after we land him or her, why should we pretend? They should love us for who we are, right? The same is true for fitness programs.
The Courtship Period is alive and well in fitness programs. Many programs fail because people give up things they are not willing to do without for the rest of their lives. People do things they have no intention of doing forever. Anyone can pretend to be an athlete for 12 weeks. We can eat 100% clean, quit smoking and quit drinking. We can hit the weights hard every other day; we may even try HIIT for a couple months. Rest assured, if you are giving up things you are unwilling to live without, or making Herculean efforts, that do not fit past the Holiday season, your success can be described with two words: Short Lived. You should NEVER build a training program around temporary situations. To do so is a lie, which ultimately results in failure.
Fitness, like everything else, is best when it is a “part” of your day-to-day life, rather than the focal point of your life. When you start to plan your first program, I want you to ask yourself whether or not you are willing to sustain this lifestyle indefinitely.
Here was part of my list with the answers:
1. Are you willing to quit smoking forever? YES
2. Are you willing to give up drinking forever? NO
3. Are you willing to give up Pizza, Hamburgers, Doughnuts and other wonderfully greasy foods forever? NO
4. Are you willing to lift weights 3 days per week? YES
As you can see, I had some problems. No way could I see myself not drinking once in awhile. That IS okay, though. I limit myself to a glass of wine with my wonderful wife, Amy, once in awhile. I was also not willing to give up my favorite greasy, cheesy foods and Flame-Broiled Goodness forever. That’s okay as well. I have what we call “Meals of Opportunity”. I have one per week while cutting, and two per week in maintenance and bulking. We have established a strict set of rules around the Meal of Opportunity, but that’s another story, for another article.
Build your program around your current limitations
If you are unwilling to give up hamburgers forever, you’ll have to take one for the team and eat the darned things once in awhile. As your program progresses, you’ll be amazed how unimportant those things you once were unwilling to do without become. You can adjust your program at will. Simply eliminate those things as the desire disappears.
My idea here is adherence. If you have a program you can live with, you’re more likely to stick with it. Here is an example of how I use this technique designing programs: I often recommend deadlifts to a client seeking fat loss and muscle gain instead of squats. Squats are clearly the better exercise and burn more calories. Why choose deadlifts? I have found I have a lot better adherence rate with deadlifts than with squats. “Writing down” that you did 5 sets of 12 squats burns about 3 calories. Actually doing 5 sets of 12 deadlifts is another story altogether. Later on in the program, after the client has a few triumphs, I can introduce him/her to squats. The client adheres to the program because deadlifts can be fun. Squats, while being a superior exercise, offer a higher risk of non-compliance.
You deserve to give yourself the best chance to succeed, right? Of course you do! Build a program you can live with. Remember, you may not be willing to drink 2 gallons of water per day, you may not be willing to eat 5 servings of vegetables per day, you may not even be willing to run 20 minutes, 3 times per week. If you replace just ONE Coke with a glass of water, you have improved two things that day: You didn’t drink as much Coke, and you drank more water than you did the day before. If you eat 1 cup of steamed vegetables today, you may avert the hunger pangs that have you screaming for the vending machine, AND you’ve eaten a truckload of micronutrients. If you agree to park in the back of the parking lot, and take the stairs for a week, you will burn more calories than taking the elevator and parking closer. You see where I am going? It’s about life in the gray areas of fitness. Don’t rope yourself into a short-lived success. Give yourself the opportunity to change forever.
For more great information regarding fat loss, please visit: No Nonsense Fitness
