Well, I did it! I asked the question and I got my answer! I asked on my facebook page for people to post ideas on the topics or questions that they most wanted answered - and really, it always comes down to the same thing: Weight Loss!
The main questions posed were:
1. What's better for weight loss - Cardio or Strength Training?
2. Can you work at fat loss while gaining lean muscle mass?
Before we answer these questions, I would like to take a look at what we mean by 'weight loss'.
We would hope that as we see the needle on the scales moving to the left, that would indicate fat loss. Depending on which 'diet' you are following, the weight you are losing could be muscle tissue, retained fluids or indeed fat. And even if the needle does move in the right direction, is that really the most important thing to look at?
So - instead of quoting numbers, I am going to show you two pictures and you can decide for yourself what body shape you prefer. Bear in mind that both of these ladies are both about 5ft 6", I would hazard a guess that the lady on the left in the yellow bikini weighs in slightly heavier than the red bikini.
As you can probably make out from both the pics, Missy Kate Hudson on the right is about a size 6-8...but is that really the body shape you would like? Is it really all about how much you weigh? I would argue that it should be how you look in a little black dress and in a bikini! Skinny doesn't translate to healthy and you can be sure that the lady pictured to our left eats a very clean diet to get her looking like this.
Any ladies who have had kids will know what I'm talking about when I say that you may go back to exactly the same weight on the scales 6 months post baby, but you can have a totally different body. Realistically, the only time counting down to the 0.1 of a Kg is important, is when you are trying to make weight for a fight, or you are monitoring a medical condition.
So, now that we have clarified exactly what it is that we are asking - we can get to answering the question!
What is the best way to improve body composition? "Body composition" refers to the amount of lean muscle tissue you have (muscle, firm, shapely, strong) versus the fatty tissue (unfortunately refers to wobbly bits, muffin top, bulges etc).
First jobs first - you need to look at what you are eating. In truth, you could spend all day in the gym, but if you are eating the wrong food, you will never get the results that you want. Might I also point out that the beauty above (left) probably earns her living in sports modelling - so her JOB is to look like this. Most regular jobs require 30-40 hrs work a week.....so if you are wondering why 40 minutes, 3 days a week and the odd salad hasn't got you ripped, you must understand that a huge amount of work goes into acquiring such a physique. Most people assume that fistfulls of salad are the best option. However, salad alone does not lend itself to the efficient fueling of a body that is going to be working hard at building lean muscle mass and if you suddenly start to 'starve' your body, your metabolic rate will slowly slow down in order to efficiently fuel your body. Let's keep this simple
1. Eat Clean - that means get rid of all processed foods from your diet...yes! ALL processed foods...and no, waffles are not a real substitute for a small potato!
2. Reduce intake of starchy carbs - pasta (white & brown), potatoes, rice....keep all to a 'smaller than the palm of your hand' portion size.
3. Increase your vegetable intake - at least half of your plate should contain veg (if its green, red, purple...the more naturally vibrant the colour, the better)
4. Increase your protein intake - eat more lean meat. Your body has to work harder to digest it, it keeps you fuller for longer, it is full of nutrients (especially if organic, free range), fish has lots of good oils.
5. Put down the breakfast cereal.....I mean it.....now! Instead have something like a slice of chicken breast on rye bread or two boiled eggs.
6. Get rid of ALL fizzy drinks (that includes sports drinks)
7. And finally, eat small and often - at least every 3 hrs (I'm a 2hr kinda gal myself).
This is a very general set of guidelines and for the stricter amongst you, I would be saying cut out regular pasta, grains, wheat, gluten ....I could go on & on with dietary pointers, but this blog was supposed to be about exercise so here are the rest of your pointers.
You can gain lean muscle whilst losing fat.....In fact, resistance training can result in a greater fat burn than slow steady state cardio (we will come back to this).
So, when I say "...building muscle", I don't mean that you need to do this......
What I do mean is that just lifting whatever weight you feel is comfy, and doing 15 reps just because you read that somewhere in a book or a mag, is probably not going to get you what you want....and when you don't get the look you are going for, you can become discouraged very quickly.
The ideal is to get yourself a good trainer (if money is an issue, see if you can bring a friend along and reduce the price). Have a couple of sessions and then, once you have perfected technique and you have some options for progressions, you can slowly start to build your programmes.
Would you like to look like Tracy Anderson (below right). This lady is very feminine, has a low body fat and is very toned and strong looking.
Did she do resistance training alone to get herself into this shape? Judging by the shape of her legs, I would say she probably does a good bit of cardio too. That cardio might be running, cycling or anything that involves sustained periods of elevating the heart rate. Unfortunately, the reclined bikes at the gym that you can sit back on and read 'Fifty Shades' just don't cut it when it comes to fat loss. Steady state (slow & sustained) aerobic work will work for a while, but our bodies very quickly adpt and plateau with this type of training
High intensity interval training or HIIT is another name for working really hard for short bursts with short recovery periods. Check out your local gym and see if they do Tabata circuits. Another option would be to check when your local running club does interval training or hill repeats. Again, if you find a good trainer in your community, they should be able to point you in the right direction, or they might run these classes themselves.This type of 'cardio' training is excellent at boosting your fat burning power and after this kind of a session, you will continue to burn calories for hours if you do it properly.
The take away message from this blog is that losing weight is out! It should be about losing fat and gaining muscle (not big cloud ones....unless you really like that kind of thing). Please remember that this is a tough job! It is not easy, there are no quick fixes. The only reason that it hasn't worked for you up until now is that you may not have had the right person showing you how. With all the information pouring on top of us about fat loss tablets, sports drinks, milkshake diets (?????) and everything else, how could we possibly be expected to sustain a healthy programme? If this is something you really want, you need to make the decision TODAY to change your lifestyle for the better. Look for a good trainer who has more that the most basic knowledge of nutrition. If you do one session and they try to sell you a tub of protein powder before ever discussing your diet, run away! And, if you do want to be referred to a trainer in your area, I do know quite a few around the country, so drop me a line and I can try to hook you up with someone who will work with you.
Work hard, Train hard, Play hard!
The main questions posed were:
1. What's better for weight loss - Cardio or Strength Training?
2. Can you work at fat loss while gaining lean muscle mass?
Before we answer these questions, I would like to take a look at what we mean by 'weight loss'.
We would hope that as we see the needle on the scales moving to the left, that would indicate fat loss. Depending on which 'diet' you are following, the weight you are losing could be muscle tissue, retained fluids or indeed fat. And even if the needle does move in the right direction, is that really the most important thing to look at?
As you can probably make out from both the pics, Missy Kate Hudson on the right is about a size 6-8...but is that really the body shape you would like? Is it really all about how much you weigh? I would argue that it should be how you look in a little black dress and in a bikini! Skinny doesn't translate to healthy and you can be sure that the lady pictured to our left eats a very clean diet to get her looking like this.
Any ladies who have had kids will know what I'm talking about when I say that you may go back to exactly the same weight on the scales 6 months post baby, but you can have a totally different body. Realistically, the only time counting down to the 0.1 of a Kg is important, is when you are trying to make weight for a fight, or you are monitoring a medical condition.
So, now that we have clarified exactly what it is that we are asking - we can get to answering the question!
What is the best way to improve body composition? "Body composition" refers to the amount of lean muscle tissue you have (muscle, firm, shapely, strong) versus the fatty tissue (unfortunately refers to wobbly bits, muffin top, bulges etc).
First jobs first - you need to look at what you are eating. In truth, you could spend all day in the gym, but if you are eating the wrong food, you will never get the results that you want. Might I also point out that the beauty above (left) probably earns her living in sports modelling - so her JOB is to look like this. Most regular jobs require 30-40 hrs work a week.....so if you are wondering why 40 minutes, 3 days a week and the odd salad hasn't got you ripped, you must understand that a huge amount of work goes into acquiring such a physique. Most people assume that fistfulls of salad are the best option. However, salad alone does not lend itself to the efficient fueling of a body that is going to be working hard at building lean muscle mass and if you suddenly start to 'starve' your body, your metabolic rate will slowly slow down in order to efficiently fuel your body. Let's keep this simple
1. Eat Clean - that means get rid of all processed foods from your diet...yes! ALL processed foods...and no, waffles are not a real substitute for a small potato!
2. Reduce intake of starchy carbs - pasta (white & brown), potatoes, rice....keep all to a 'smaller than the palm of your hand' portion size.
3. Increase your vegetable intake - at least half of your plate should contain veg (if its green, red, purple...the more naturally vibrant the colour, the better)
4. Increase your protein intake - eat more lean meat. Your body has to work harder to digest it, it keeps you fuller for longer, it is full of nutrients (especially if organic, free range), fish has lots of good oils.
5. Put down the breakfast cereal.....I mean it.....now! Instead have something like a slice of chicken breast on rye bread or two boiled eggs.
6. Get rid of ALL fizzy drinks (that includes sports drinks)
7. And finally, eat small and often - at least every 3 hrs (I'm a 2hr kinda gal myself).
This is a very general set of guidelines and for the stricter amongst you, I would be saying cut out regular pasta, grains, wheat, gluten ....I could go on & on with dietary pointers, but this blog was supposed to be about exercise so here are the rest of your pointers.
You can gain lean muscle whilst losing fat.....In fact, resistance training can result in a greater fat burn than slow steady state cardio (we will come back to this).
So, when I say "...building muscle", I don't mean that you need to do this...... What I do mean is that just lifting whatever weight you feel is comfy, and doing 15 reps just because you read that somewhere in a book or a mag, is probably not going to get you what you want....and when you don't get the look you are going for, you can become discouraged very quickly.
The ideal is to get yourself a good trainer (if money is an issue, see if you can bring a friend along and reduce the price). Have a couple of sessions and then, once you have perfected technique and you have some options for progressions, you can slowly start to build your programmes.
Would you like to look like Tracy Anderson (below right). This lady is very feminine, has a low body fat and is very toned and strong looking.
Did she do resistance training alone to get herself into this shape? Judging by the shape of her legs, I would say she probably does a good bit of cardio too. That cardio might be running, cycling or anything that involves sustained periods of elevating the heart rate. Unfortunately, the reclined bikes at the gym that you can sit back on and read 'Fifty Shades' just don't cut it when it comes to fat loss. Steady state (slow & sustained) aerobic work will work for a while, but our bodies very quickly adpt and plateau with this type of training
High intensity interval training or HIIT is another name for working really hard for short bursts with short recovery periods. Check out your local gym and see if they do Tabata circuits. Another option would be to check when your local running club does interval training or hill repeats. Again, if you find a good trainer in your community, they should be able to point you in the right direction, or they might run these classes themselves.This type of 'cardio' training is excellent at boosting your fat burning power and after this kind of a session, you will continue to burn calories for hours if you do it properly.
The take away message from this blog is that losing weight is out! It should be about losing fat and gaining muscle (not big cloud ones....unless you really like that kind of thing). Please remember that this is a tough job! It is not easy, there are no quick fixes. The only reason that it hasn't worked for you up until now is that you may not have had the right person showing you how. With all the information pouring on top of us about fat loss tablets, sports drinks, milkshake diets (?????) and everything else, how could we possibly be expected to sustain a healthy programme? If this is something you really want, you need to make the decision TODAY to change your lifestyle for the better. Look for a good trainer who has more that the most basic knowledge of nutrition. If you do one session and they try to sell you a tub of protein powder before ever discussing your diet, run away! And, if you do want to be referred to a trainer in your area, I do know quite a few around the country, so drop me a line and I can try to hook you up with someone who will work with you.
Work hard, Train hard, Play hard!
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