1. Stop Using Weight Machines! Weight machines are sexy,
sleek, shiny, and smooth. Perhaps that is why gym owners
and lazy personal trainers have fallen head over heels in
love with them.
Gym owners pack their gyms with these eye catching devices
so that they could get more people into their gyms without
having a large amount of trainers on staff. Those gym goers
who do utilize personal training services often get a
highly paid escort who walks them from machine to machine
and adjusts the setting for them. Do you know how to spot a
good trainer? One who never takes their clients to the
weight machines!
Without getting too biological on you, your muscles do not
work in isolation - they work in a chain of movement. The
most evil of machines, the leg extension machine, is a
prime example - it is just not a natural movement. It has
absolutely nothing to do with how our legs are used in
everyday life - for walking, climbing, and descending.
Don't get me wrong - machines do have their place in the
fitness world. However, they are most beneficial to two
populations - bodybuilders who are looking to correct a
deficiency or weak point, and physical therapy patients who
are trying to rebuild strength and regain range of motion.
They are not meant for people looking to lose fat!
People looking to lose fat need to utilize free weights,
body weight exercises, and various other equipment like
medicine balls, resistance bands, and balance trainers -
essentially training movements not specific muscles.
2. Stop Using the Handles on Cardio Machines! It cracks me
up every time I see someone who is using a treadmill and is
holding on to the bar in front of them for dear life with a
white-knuckled grip. Maybe you've seen the people who are
draped all over the stairmaster or stepmill with their
arms, and their heads facing down while their back is
unnaturally curved. There are even those who hold on to the
siderails on the stepmills or elliptical machines and push
up with their arms (or my all time favorites are the people
who contort their arms so that their wrists are facing
forward!)
What do these people all have in common? They are wasting
their time! Bars are meant for balance only - not as a
crutch to use when the going gets tough during exercise.
When you walk or run outside, do you have anything to hold
on to? Unless you run while pushing a shopping cart (very
odd!) or stroller (if you must), let go of the handles.
You'll expend more energy and use more muscle, thus getting
a more efficient and effective workout.
I know what you're thinking - "What about the elliptical
machines with the handles that pump back and forth? Don't I
get more of a calorie burn from them?" In short, no.
Pumping your arms back and forth without touching the
handles will of be far more benefit to burning fat.
And don't use the handgrips on any cardio machine to get
your heart rate - they will not be accurate. Instead, read
on and follow my advice below.
3. Stop Doing Hours and Hours of Cardio! Read this next
statement carefully, then re-read it:
You should never spend more than 20 minutes doing cardio
Want proof? Simply put a picture of a marathon runner next
to a picture of an Olympic sprinter (preferably one who is
not using steroids!). Now, which person's build would you
rather have?
If you're doing long bouts of cardio (more than 30 minutes
at a slow and steady pace) you are burning muscle - muscle
that is extremely vital to your fat burning efforts. Your
"cardio", rather than slow and steady, should be short
bursts of hard effort followed by recovery. I will go into
this much more in depth in future newsletter articles, and
may even have an expert or two explain in detail why
training this way is much more efficient for fat loss. For
now, take my word for it that SLOW AND STEADY DOES NOT WIN
THE FAT LOSS RACE!
4. Stop Reading / Watching TV / Using Your Mobile Phone
While In the Gym! The gym is the one place where
multi-tasking is an absolute no-no! Shut your mobile phone
off (or better yet, leave it in the car - many facilities
are starting to ban mobile phones because people tie up
equipment while using them, or worse, take pictures). Leave
the magazines and newspapers at home. You only have a
limited time at the gym - you should be focused on
achieving your daily goals. To keep myself honest, I'll use
a stopwatch to time my between-sets breaks. Eliminate all
distractions and your fat loss efforts will improve
dramatically!
5. Never Workout Without Recording Your Results as You Go!
Whether you use a good old fashioned paper and pencil, or a
tricked-out PDA, keep track of your workouts EVERY TIME you
go to the gym.
A well-respected fitness expert (who we will hopefully be
able to speak to during one of the upcoming teleseminars)
speaks of setting personal records (or PRs as he calls
them). Every time in the gym, you should be focused on
doing a little bit more than you did the last time - a
Kaizen approach to fitness. Let's say you did 3 sets of 5
chin-ups in your last workout - you should strive for 3
sets of 6 chin-ups next time out. If you fail, that's ok -
the quality of your workouts will be affected by many
variables like nutrition, amount of sleep, outside stress,
etc. Even if you did one set of 6 chin-ups followed by two
more sets of 5, you've bested your personal record. And how
would you know that? Because you were keeping track!
I have detailed workout journals that span years. Not only
do I note the sets, reps, time, etc. but also any other
notes that would have come into play (e.g., "gym crowded -
forced me to substitute Exercise X for Exercise Y; poor
sleep the night before; feeling nauseous). This helps you
to put some context around your performance. Your solution
does not need to be fancy - a notebook is fine, though
there are software packages you can use. No matter what you
choose, make sure you utilize it every time you work out!
----------------------------------------------------
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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