Hi Everyone,
Found this excellent post on fat loss at The Facts About Fitness Blog (Christian Finn’s site, who is a highly respected trainer and fitness expert). Some ideas on getting rid of that last bit of fat if you hit a plateau. Definately worth taking a look, follow the link below.
http://thefactsaboutfitness.com/2008/02/stubborn-fat-and-how-to-beat-it.htm
Speak to you again soon!
There are so many beginners out there who can’t grasp or just don’t believe the importance of resting for muscle growth. Training for hours every single day will not give you huge muscle, in fact in may even do the opposite.
If you are over training and not giving your muscles enough time to recover, your muscle will actual start to deteriorate. When you are training with weights, if you are putting enough stress on them by lifting heavy enough, you are actually damaging the fibres within the muscle. Once this has happened, with enough rest and nutrition, the muscle will begin to repair. Only it will repair itself stronger and thicker than it was before, so it will be able to handle the weight you were lifting to damage it in the first place. If you do not allow the muscle enough time to repair itself, you will continue to damage already damaged muscle tissue. This will eventually start to weaken this muscle, having negative effects on growth.
So remember, more is not always better when exercising for muscle growth. Allow enough time for the exercised muscle to repair and grow, don’t train the same body parts every day. Use Split routines and introduce sufficient rest days into your workout plan.
Is fast weight loss good or bad? Well this largely depends on whether you want to lose weight or whether you want to lose fat. For most people this is one and the same thing, I can assure you that it isn’t. When you hear about people who lose pounds and pounds of weight in just a few days I can guarantee that the majority of this ‘weight’ is water and even muscle. Successful fat loss is a slow steady process. On average if you are losing more than 1.5lb per week you are likely to be burning off muscle with the fat.
It is true that you can burn fat to a degree with diet alone, by creating a calorie deficit (by this I mean using up more calories than you are taking in). If you want effective permanent fat loss you should create that calorie deficit by combining a healthy diet with proper exercise. If you monitor your weight loss, and adjust your diet and exercise accordingly, you can ensure that the weight you are losing is fat and not muscle. Incorporating these into your life style will ensure that the fat stays off.
I’m writing this post after just returning from my final training session of the week. Whilst doing my workout in the gym, I was having a look around to see what the other gym members were doing with their workouts and keeping an eye out for any exercises that looked like they would be a good addition to my training. After observing a number of members, each concentrating on their own workout, I began to notice that the majority of them had absolutely terrible techniques in their exercises. I was amazed at how people were using their whole bodies to complete a simple bicep curl, overloading the bench press so they were only able to move the bar up and down a few inches with their backs arched and their heads swaying all over the place, and the list goes on…! There were injuries waiting to happen all over the gym! Not only that but these people don’t seem to realise that by training in this way they are only cheating themselves out of results.
If you want to maximize your results in the gym , really put that extra effort into making sure you perform each and every exercise you complete with proper technique. Really try and concentrate on isolating the muscle that you are exercising. If you are performing bicep curls, you biceps should be doing the work, you shouldn’t be leaning backwards so your back muscles help with the lift. Apart from the fact that you are risking injury, you are also reducing your results.
So in short, if you want to get the most out of your muscle building workout, concentrate on the quality of your exercise, then once you have mastered the technique of each exercise start increasing your weights whilst still keeping the proper technique.
I was reading some posts on other peoples blogs as I often do when I came across a great post on Tom Venutos of Burnthefat.com’s blog. This guy really knows his stuff and I think his comments here on workout fads are spot on. I back up his opinions 100% here.
Have a read for yourself and remember his expert thoughts when you are tempted with the next big so called ’short cut’ workout…
http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2007/04/stop_doing_cardio.php
What is this powerful tool you ask? It is quite simply a workout record book. Still a bit unsure as to why it is so powerful? Well let me explain…
Successful muscle growth requires continuous progression in your training. To get bigger and bigger muscles, you need to lift bigger and bigger weights. Keeping a record of what exercises you are doing and what weights you are lifting in my opinion is essential. It keeps your workouts organised and (if you have a terrible memory like me!) helps you keep track of what you lifted in your last workout.
Having your workouts laid out in front of you in a workout record book is a good way to prevent ‘messy’ workouts. I see it all the time in my gym, people just moving from machine to machine, doing a bit what ever is free or look’s good at the time, generally having no plan to their routines. This prevents them from progressing with their training and therefore prevents them getting results.
Keeping a workout record is also great for goal setting, you can see what you are currently doing and set yourself long term and short term targets. For example, you can see from your record that you are currently bench pressing 150lbs for 8 reps, your next workout you you set yourself the goal of 155lbs for 8 reps.
It is also a great idea to add a section at the back of your book to record your weight, body fat percentage, chest measurement, etc. So you can monitor your results weekly or every couple of weeks, from this you can adjust your diet accordingly.
So go out and get yourself a small pad or book, (available at any local store!), and make yourself a workout record. I assure you it will be a worthy addition to your gym bag!
There is a myth out there that doing lots of sit ups everyday will give you those sort after six pack abs. While it is true that the traditional sit up does work the abdominal muscles, just doing sit ups alone will NOT strip the fat off your mid section leaving you with a perfect six pack, spot reduction of fat is not possible.
The six pack look is created by the rectus abdominus muscle commonly known as the ’abs’. This muscle, who’s function is to the support the trunk, has bulges or ridges along it which form the six pack look. Everybody has this muscle, and although it is true that you can tone and build this muscle to make it look more impressive, if you have a low enough body-fat (this is usually around 12% or less in most men) you will see your six pack. On the other hand you could have the best looking abs in the world, but if you have too much fat over them, they will not be visible.
In my opinion the best way to train to achieve those six pack abs you desire, is a combination of proper diet, two to three low intensity 30-45 minute cardio sessions a week to lower your body-fat. Along with two or three resistance training sessions. These sessions should incorporate two or three seperate exercises, performing three sets of each. My favorite exercises for working my abs include the standard crunch, which can be made more difficult by holding a weight, and also leg raises.
Keep this type of training up regularly and you should be well on your way to achieving those six pack abs.
