Weight Training
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| 1. Carbs are very fattening. BS! Any nutritionist will tell you
that on a gram for gram basis, carbs are no more fattening than
proteins. If you cut carbs out, your metabolism slows down, you
have zero energy, and your body destroys muscle tissue to make up
for the lack of adequate energy stores. If you're looking to lose
fat, I suggest thermo products, cardio, weight training with high-reps,
and trying not to eat things that don't really satisfy your hunger.
But please don't fall in with this new, unhealthy fad.
2. Training with light weights but high reps is un-intense and does nothing. Pure myth. It's true, if you want to build bulk, higher weight is necessary. But, if you're looking for definition, separation, and just overall beauty, nothing substitutes high-set, high-rep, low-rest training.
3. Cheating is bad. Bull! For mass, cheating yourself through a set is ideal--and I have proof of this. Look at all the basic mass building exercises--bench, squat, bar-rows--none of these isolate the target muscle, but rather use other muscles to help the target hoist more weight. Here's where "cheating" comes in. This is the point of a "compound" exercise"--to use other muscle groups! Therefore, using your back a little to curl a bit more is very beneficial.
4. Eating high-fat foods is what causes weight-problems. No, what causes weight problems is simple: consuming too many calories. It doesn't matter whether it's protein, carbs or fat. Just eating more than you burn causes fat. So, in contrast, taking the butter off the toast won't lose you that gut unless you decrease calories in general.
5. Fat is unhealthy. Don't get me started! Fat is an essential building block of brain tissue. This is quite evident because a person on a low fat diet is cranky, as his/her brain is malfunctioning. And, unlike carbs, fat is essential to cell maintenance, which can help your muscle growth. Now, if you're trying to lose weight, you don't need to eat fat since you have enough fat stored under your skin. So I recommend to cut back on fats (not cut out). On the other hand, if you're trying to gain muscle without body fat, I recommend a balanced diet of 50% carbs, 25% proteins, and 25% (yes, 25!) fats.
6. Training too hard is unhealthy. No. the harder you train, the more gains you'll make. Nuff said.
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| Thank you for speaking your mind. I have a friend who lost a ton of weight on the high protein, low carbs diet. She seems to be happy and keeps telling me to try it, but I know it's not for me. I actually ate that way in high school and felt terrible all the time.
Okay, I have a question. I am very athletic and work out at the gym three to four days a week. I alternate cardio with weight training. I train upper body separate from legs. I have 2 nagging areas I want to fix. The back of my arms have flab as well the upper inside thigh. I train these body parts regularly and I want to firm them up without bulk. I have a tendency already to build bulk and I have wide shoulders. Since I am a girl, I want to keep a girlish figure while maintaining strength. I also train horses competitively and ride a minimum of four hours a day, five days a week and I have 2 children. I am in my 30's. Do you have any suggestions?
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| Well, the biggest problem women face is this...muscle burns calories. If you want to burn more calories, you must build muscle. Unfortunately, women have very low levels of testosterone in their bodies, and testosterone = protein synthesis. Also, many women don't want to have big muscles.
Now, another common myth is that in order to get rid of fat in, say, your abs, just do a lot of crunches and it will go away after time. This is somewhat true, but not because of spot reduction. If you don't have any abdominal muscles in the first place, then even if you are a skeleton, you are not going to have a six pack. So yes, you must work the muscles in the area you want to be firm, but you also must burn more calories per day than you consume (negative calorie balance) to lose the fat that covers all the muscles in the body. Where this fat is taken off is purely genetics, unchangeable. Also, high reps burn more calories than low rep exercises.
What you must do is, in fact, burn more calories per day than
you consume, as well as build muscle in that area, using preferably
reps from 8-12 with moderate weight. No, you will not gain enormous
triceps like the women or men in Muscle and Fitness. However,
your muscles will become tighter, and when you lose that little
bit of fat that is covering them, they will be nice and tight.
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