Friday, March 21, 2014

10 Mistakes Women Make in the Gym

It seems only fitting, after last week’s post focusing on the mistakes men make, to put together a similar list for women.  After spending the past fifteen years in and around gyms, and spending the last eight helping women achieve their fitness goals, I have seen a lot of things that women either misunderstand about exercise, or do just plain wrong.  However, there is one fundamental way that women approach exercise differently from men.

Women tend to be far more teachable and willing to try new things: if it is explained to them in a way that makes sense.  Ladies do not suffer from the stupid male mindset of “I know what I am doing.”  With women it tends to be more of, “I don’t know so I won’t try it unless someone shows me.”  Having said that, if you are a man reading this, do not immediately jump into explaining to your wife or girlfriend how your fitness program is right for them. The closer a relationship a man has with a woman; the easier it is to cross that line from helpful to condescending jerk.  Most of the time guys do this unintentionally.  Just know guys, that the closer she is to you the more likely she will see your suggestions of various exercises as an unfair critique of her body.  If a man and woman in a close relationship are going to work out together, development of a program should focus on training her entire body to improve health and fitness, not just the areas you especially like or want to look better.  In reality, the best thing a man can do to help a women feel more comfortable in the gym, especially if that woman is interested in strength training, is to hire a personal trainer you both can trust.  With that little soapbox over, let’s dive into where women go wrong in the gym.


10.   So I am taking this pill… so is approximately 70% of the adult population in the US according to last year’s CDC report.  Are we any healthier as a nation? Most people have not gotten any healthier popping pills. I am putting my money on that weight loss pill not doing it.  Two things need to be considered: no “reputable” supplement company is going to promote testimonial about results of their product from someone who was not also dieting and exercising while taking the pill. A healthy diet and regular exercise kind of maximize weight loss. Also, the only-research verified weight loss pills that work are drugs regulated by the FDA and require a physician’s prescription to obtain.  Typically these prescriptions are only issued to the morbidly obese.  Any weight loss supplement is not FDA regulated, so manufacturers can make whatever claim they wish, with or without research to verify the claims.  There is no magic pill, there is eating healthy and training hard.

9.       Confusing skinny with fit…sadly, most women I have had the opportunity to work with or talk to, at some point talk about how skinny they wish to be.  Photo-shopped women in magazines and TV ads have given women an unhealthy idea as to what the ideal female body should look like.  Ladies, stop trying to be skinny, stop trying to look a certain way.  Change this mindset for yourself because you do not deserve the guilt and do not need the stress.  Stop making exercise about looking a certain way.  Instead, make exercise about doing more; about overcoming physical challenges and reaching new levels of fitness.  You will find self-confidence and a positive body image by overcoming the challenges.  Guys would much rather have a woman fit enough to keep up with and challenge them than a size 0.  Guys do not like a size 0.  Marilyn Monroe was reportedly a size 12.  Just think about it.

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.- Vince Lombardi

8.       Spot Reduction is a myth.  Thousands of crunches will not give you a flat stomach.  The Brazilian Butt is a joke.  Exercise improves what the body can do.  Nutrition changes how the body looks.  The easiest, and scientifically-based, way to improve body composition and appearance is to eat healthy and train the entire body.  The more muscle recruited, the more calories expended, the faster the weight loss.
7.       Fat-Burning Zone does not exist.  But, because of some terrible nomenclature, every piece of cardio equipment has a setting labelled “the Fat-Burning Zone.” Low intensity, long duration exercise is fueled by the breakdown of body fat, this is true, hence the “Fat-Burning Zone.”  The problem is that this method is that the body stores muscle glycogen to provide fuel for exercise.  Fat-Burning Zone training burns calories so slowly that people must exercise a minimum of 90 minutes before the body finishes using stored muscle glycogen and begins utilizing any fat as fuel exercise.  Who has time for that? Despite this, many women continue to do low intensity exercise, buying into the fallacy of the “Fat-Burning Zone.”  Cardio sucks and low intensity exercise burns a low number of calories resulting in little change.  Get outside of the “Fat-Burning Zone,” or as I call it, the “comfort-filled-zero- results” zone.  Change does not happen inside the comfort zone.  Get sweaty, get out of breath, and get results.

6.       I worked out, I deserve…ice cream, chocolate, cookies…whatever it may be, if you think that workout just gave you permission to have it, you just undid all that effort and time spent exercising.  I never have to ask a client, male or female, if the diet program is being followed.  Why?  Because what a person eats in private is worn in public.  It is impossible to out exercise poor nutrition. If the effort is there in the gym, but the results are not coming this is the problem.  If this is you, this is why your body is not changing. I am not saying that you cannot have a treat now and then; what I am saying is that this should be a once a week thing, not a every time you work out thing. Reward yourself with new clothes to fit that new body or a day at the spa.  Just do not use food as a reward.  You are not a dog; do not reward yourself with food.

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands-and then eat just one of the pieces.-Judith Viorst

5.       Buying into the magic of machines. Outside of therapeutic and rehabilitation settings, I do not consider strength-training machines to be of much value.  True, for someone who has never set foot in a fitness club before, all those machines look really impressive; which is why most fitness clubs buy them.  It is the “wow” factor when potential customers come around.  However, the problem with those machines is that each one is only capable of doing the motion it was designed to do.  This is not a terrible thing, just a limitation.  By limiting your strength-training to just the movements of the machines, a person misses out on training about 90% of what the body is actually capable of doing.  Do not ask how a machine can give you a better body.  Instead, ask how becoming the machine results in a better body.
 
4.       Only doing cardio.  Reevaluate yourself in light of point number seven, that type of cardio only trains the slow-twitch fibers of the muscles.  Slow-Twitch fibers make up about 45% of the average woman’s total muscle tissue.  Look at it another way, by only doing cardio, you leave more than half your body untrained.  Perhaps this is why the effort only seems to yield about half the results you would like.  Remember, the treadmill is the road to nowhere.  If must run, go outside and find a hill.  Sprint up, walk back down, repeat. Your body will thank you.

3.       Failing the Talk Test.  No, I do not mean you should spend more time talking. The talk test is a simple way of gauging intensity.  If you can talk while you are doing it, the intensity is too low.  Whether it is 45 minutes on the treadmill or a heavy set of squats, if you can spare the energy to talk, you have more energy that can be used to work harder.  Talk during a warm up and cool down.  Talk in between sets, but do not talk when it is time to work. Put the energy into increased intensity and enjoy faster results.  Ladies, if you train with the man in your life, this is the easiest way to earn his respect in the gym.  Impress him with the intensity of your work ethic.

2.       Afraid of breaking a sweat.  If numbers seven and number three have not established it, let’s address the obvious theme here: UP THE INTENSITY!  It is a simple reality: the more sweat now, the less jiggle later.  When it comes to exercise, there is no substitute for hard work.   I am not sure if women feel being sweaty is unladylike or if women are just afraid they will smell like a stinky guy, but sweat equity is one of the best valuations for the quality of the workout. A short, intense workout is more valuable than a two hour stroll.  If you still look cute at the end of a workout, you didn’t.  Being a hot mess at the end should be the primary goal.  Get intense!

1.       Not lifting weights. In the words of Dwight Schrute, “Lifting weights makes women huge? False, eating cupcakes makes women huge.”  The simple reality is that a woman needs strength training if she intends to maximize her body’s potential.  The best female athletes and fitness models are good friends with the weights.  Nothing changes the body faster or more effectively.  Ladies think about this, if it weighs less than your purse, what is the point? And mothers, just because that child grows older and bigger does not mean that he will stop wanting to be held by mommy.  Does it make any sense to lift weights lighter than your child?


Change is the essence of life.  Be willing to sacrifice what you are for what you may become.-  Tony Robbins



Friday, March 14, 2014

10 Mistakes Guys Make in the Gym

Spend enough time in a fitness club or gym, and you will eventually see someone do something that makes you ask, “did that really just happen?” or “what were they thinking?”  This goes beyond making mistakes with exercise technique or struggling with a program due to lack of knowledge or experience.  At some point in time, everyone, me included, is a beginner.  There is nothing wrong with making mistakes.  If you do make mistakes; learn.  Better yet, save yourself some pain and embarrassment by learning from others.
Being a member of the male gender I have had my fair share of moments shining in brilliant stupidity, and yes, in my younger and more foolish days, I was guilty of more than one item on this list.  This list is far from all-inclusive and is not restricted to mistakes made while exercising.  It includes some moments lacking in common sense and some of complete douche-baggery.  After fifteen years spent in gyms and fitness clubs as both a member and an employee, I present a list of ten of the most common training and etiquette mistakes guys make in the gym.  Consequently, discontinuing these behaviors would improve the entire fitness experience for everyone.

10.   Wearing Nipple Shirts.  Or worse, no shirt.  After polling a few women that I train, I come to a couple of conclusions based upon their feedback: this is not the beach and it makes women uncomfortable. Even if you are in such great shape you make Channing Tatum look like a porpoise, the nip slip is nauseating, not tantalizing the ladies. Cover up!


9.       Selfies.  Those wonderful self-taken (hence the name “selfies”) post-workout photos that show you in all your vascular glory? Yeah, the ladies are not digging those either. It makes a guy come across as self-absorbed.  If you really have to take one, go to the locker room.  It is the one place where no one will get upset with you for taking your shirt off.  However, be warned that taking photos in the locker room may result in awkward conversations with management and the police.

8.       Carrying a gallon-size jug of water.  Hydration is important but this is overkill.  It is hard enough to drink a gallon of water a day much less during a workout.  If a person actually drank an entire gallon of water in a single workout, so much time would be spent in the bathroom that gym staff may call an ambulance to check on the guy.  Carry a normal 20-32oz bottle.  It is all the hydration needed for a workout lasting less than one hour.

7.       Talking on a cell phone.  Unless you are a doctor on call or other emergency personnel like a police officer, leave the phone in the car.  Cell phones are so common now that no one is impressed that you have one.  Walking around talking loudly for several minutes is annoying.  It is also rude to spend several minutes sitting on a piece of equipment while talking on the phone and not using the equipment.  If the call has to be taken, get up and let someone else use it.  In my opinion, if the world cannot give you 30-60 minutes of uninterrupted “me” time three or four days a week, it does not respect you.  Exception: always answer if your wife calls.

6.       Failing to properly warm up and cool down. If you spend all day behind a desk or if you work out before the sun comes up, a proper warm up is a must.  This prepares the mind and the body for the task ahead.  Going from sitting behind a desk all day or jumping straight out of bed into intense exercise is a recipe for injury.  The same can be said for properly cooling off after a strenuous workout.  A proper cool down is more important than immediately downing that post-workout shake.

5.       Choosing heavier weight and sacrificing form.  Outside of a poor diet, this is perhaps the biggest results killer of workouts for men.  Exercising is more than just picking up and putting down weights.  Regardless of the exercise, each movement is most efficient and offers the best results when moved with steady control through a full range of motion.  Unless a guy is in serious training to become a competitive power/Olympic lifter, using momentum or partial repetitions are advanced techniques that are best saved for highly trained individuals.  It is only after mastering fundamental movement patterns that a person can learn to cheat movements for positive results.

4.       Treating the Bench Press as the Holy Grail of exercise.  I get it, having a huge number on the bench press is considered the hallmark of a fit man.  I am not saying that the bench press is a bad exercise, however, it gets far more attention than it deserves.  This is because there is not a lot of practical application outside of the gym where having a strong bench press is beneficial.  Think about it, name a sport or real life setting where lying flat on your back pushing a heavy weight off of you is a good thing.  If you are flat on your back, you lost.  Also, this where most guys are guilty of number five and suffer lifelong shoulder issues because of it.

3.       Confusing cardio with conditioning.  Conditioning prepares you for battle. Cardio trains you to run away…slowly.  Do not get me wrong, endurance training has its place in just about every type of training program.  But, using a treadmill to plod along for hours and miles on end only makes you good at plodding along on a treadmill.  Conditioning focuses on increasing intensity training specific movement patterns that enhance performance and improve fitness while also training cardiovascular fitness.  Conditioning can incorporate bodyweight resistance, weight training, agility, and endurance.  Conditioning creates a fitter, more athletic man.

2.       Favoring isolation exercises over compound movements. The point of strength training is to get stronger.  Strength progress more quickly with more muscle recruited in a movement.  Training should focus on and be prioritized with heavy compound, multi-joint movements: Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans and Presses.  Far less emphasis should be placed isolation exercises, using just a single joint, like on curls and press downs.  The biceps and triceps can handle far more weight, and thus, receive greater stimulus, when working with other muscles.  The greater the stimulus, the great the strength and muscle gains.

1.       Confusing a post-workout protein shake with a solid nutrition plan.  I am not against protein shakes.  The body has a higher need for protein immediately post workout than at any other time and shakes are a great way to get it.  But do not think that simply downing a protein shake and not improving the entire nutrition program is going to get results.  If a workout is done right metabolism will stay elevated for up to 48 hours, not just a 30 minute “anabolic window,” every meal is important.  Failing to recognize this will kill any chance at results.  It is impossible to out-exercise poor nutrition.


Success in anything ultimately comes down to how coachable a person is: how hungry is someone to learn, and, are you willing to be humble enough to learn? Most men and I will freely admit that there are areas of my life where I am guilty of this, seem to think they can figure everything out on their own.  A little bit of manly pride is not a bad thing.  But when it comes to improving your health, especially, if you want the most out of the time and effort you are putting in at the gym, be coachable.