6. Never Workout Without Music! Did you ever pay attention
to the soundtrack of your favorite TV show or movie? Did
you every wonder why certain songs were playing at certain
times? Music evokes emotion, and emotion can carry you
through even the toughest of workouts. I've had workouts
totally come apart when the battery died on my iPod Nano!
Several studies have been conducted to show the effect of
music on workouts. One study showed that upbeat,
hard-driving music can increase your strength and
intensity, while another study revealed that music has been
shown to increase pain tolerance during a workout.
Putting on a pair of headphones also helps you to block out
all of the distractions that loom at the gym (as previously
noted). Sometimes, just hearing the opening beat of some of
the tunes on my iPod gets me revved up - especially since I
workout first thing in the morning (more on this in future
issues of the newsletter).
Some of my favorite tunes on my workout list include a
variety of genres:
- "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor
- "Welcome to the Jungle" - Guns 'n Roses
- "Beautiful Day" - U2
- "Wake Up Call" - Maroon 5
- "Enter Sandman" - Metallica
- "Higher" - Creed
Make your own workout mix and get moving!
7. Never Workout Without a Heart Rate Monitor! The best way
to keep yourself honest in the gym is to wear a heart rate
monitor. A heart rate monitor will let you know how hard
you are working, and when you need to crank up the
intensity of your workout. Whether weight training or
interval training, it is the best indicator of how hard you
are working and help you to figure out your optimal rest
intervals.
For example, during interval training, you need to create
an oxygen debt - that is, your body is asking your lungs
for more oxygen than it can provide. How do you know this
is happening? After you stop your hard effort, your heart
rate should actually increase and you begin to pant in an
effort to take in more oxygen - and that is your debt
situation. Having the HRM makes it much easier to determine
when you've reached this point.
I'll go into the optimal ranges for your heart rate
activity during exercise, calculating your maximum heart
rate and other relevant information. For now, get a heart
rate monitor, read the manual and take it for a test drive.
You don't need one with all of the bells and whistles
(unless you're into gadgets like me) - my favorite brand is
Polar, and you can get great prices by searching the Web.
8. Stop Socializing at the Gym! Every gym has one - I call
him "the Mayor". He's the one who knows everyone and feels
the need to come over and talk about just about anything.
He'll do his very uninspired set on one of the weight
machines, often grunting loudly or distorting his face to
get further attention, and when he finishes says "Whew!"
loudly to no one in particular. The poor soul who
acknowledges him will then be subjected to a 10-minute
discussion on the economy, the presidential race, the stock
market, or whatever strikes his fancy. He may even horse
around with the personal trainers, who are now not watching
their clients as they perform their sets.
You should avoid the Mayor at all costs - he will derail
your fat loss efforts in an instant! In fact, you should
avoid all interaction during your workout, with the
exception of asking someone if they are using a particular
weight or rack. If you're following my advice above and
working out to music, this is really easy to accomplish -
just turn up your tunes and tune out the others.
Folks at my gym may think I'm anti-social because I don't
acknowledge anyone - heck I don't even look at people -
while I'm in the middle of my workout. Why? Because I only
have a limited time to accomplish my goals for that day,
and stopping even for a moment to chat takes away from the
time I have. And if I don't reach my goal for that day, I
consider it a failure (more on that in future newsletters).
To combat people's perceptions, if you care about things
like that, a simple smile or wave hello as you enter or
leave the gym is enough to reassure them that you are not a
recluse. But once you strap on your music, it's "Go Time!"
9. Never Workout Without Consuming Protein Afterwards (and
Sometimes Before)! I train first thing in the morning, so
sometimes I drink a protein shake prior to heading to the
gym, sometimes I don't. There is a lot of debate over
working out in a fasted state that I won't get into here.
Suffice it to say that consuming protein before your
workout has been shown in research to increase muscle mass
and decrease body fat, so it is a good idea to have a
protein shake before a workout, especially if you'll be
working out later in the day.
You should always consume protein after a workout,
preferably a protein shake made from whey protein isolate.
I will go into much greater detail in subsequent
newsletters about reliable brands, tasty recipes, etc. How
much protein? Take your current body weight and divide by
5.5 - that is how many grams of protein should be in your
post-workout shake. What about carbs? The conventional
wisdom says that the number of grams of carbs in the
post-workout shake should equal the number of grams of
protein. BUT...what I have found through my research and
practice is that post-workout shakes are more effective for
fat loss if they are kept low in carbs. One of the aspects
of protein consumption that will be covered later is
exactly how many grams should be consumed in a day, and
questions about safety concerns from ingesting large
amounts of protein.
10. Stop Stretching Before Your Workout! Do you know how
many people walk into the gym from the street and
immediately start to stretch? Do you know how
counter-productive this is?
First, there are two kinds of stretches - static and
dynamic. An example of static is when you throw your leg up
on a parallel bar or rack and bend at the waist until you
feel a slight pull, then hold for a period of time. Static
stretching before workouts is a very bad idea. Static
stretching forces the muscle to relax, this making it
weaker. When a muscle is weaker than its counterpart (for
example if your hamstrings on the backs of your leg are
weaker than your quadriceps in the front of your leg) it
causes an imbalance that could lead to strains, tears and
pulls.
Dynamic stretching is the way to go to get loose before
your workout. We'll cover this in greater detail in the
future. For now, save your static stretching for any time
other than before your workout.
----------------------------------------------------
Matt Lisk is a fat loss expert who has used his knowledge
to lose over 70 pounds of body fat, reduce his body fat
percentage to under 10% and to resolve a variety of health
issues he was experiencing. He is the author of Lean State
University's Fat Loss 101 Newsletter at http://leanstate.com
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