Fitness Tip: Don’t Be a Softy in the Weight Room

Lifescript.com's Jennifer Gruenemay talks about women and their trials and tribulations in the weight room. The article is an interesting read on how we differently we treat different fitness activities.

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Most women are too hard on themselves when it comes to cardio. But when it comes to weight training, they might very easily be going too easy on themselves. Studies show women tend to life weights that are too light because they are afraid they'll bulk up. But that's not the case. Women generally do not produce enough testosterone to build bulky muscles. And if the weight isn’t heavy enough, it won’t provide enough resistance for your muscles to make gains in muscular endurance or strength, which makes lifting weights completely pointless.

Experts recommend that you start with a 10-pound weight, which is light enough to avoid injury, and see how many repetitions you can do of a certain exercise (like an overhead press or biceps curl). If you can easily do more than 15 repetitions at that weight, you should increase the weight by five to 10 pounds and repeat the drill. Do this until you figure out how much you can safely lift in 8-12 repetitions, which is the preferred amount of reps for improving muscular endurance. Once you’ve found a weight that challenges you, stick with it until it also becomes too easy. Then, increase the weight by five to 10 pounds again until you find a comfortable but challenging weight. Muscular adaptations can occur in as little as a few sessions or a few weeks of training, so don’t be surprised if you have to increase weights a lot in the first few months of training.

Main Event Daily Tip: Weight Loss is 90% Mental

Jennifer Gruenemay of Lifescript.com had a great tip on Weight Loss and slimming down.....
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While a personal trainer is one of the best coaches you can have in your weight loss journey, a positive attitude is even better to have in your corner, and it won’t cost you anything extra. While the science behind weight loss breaks it down to a “calories in vs. calories out” equation, the reality is that weight loss is largely a battle of the mind. But the battle is lost when you end up talking yourself out of exercising, talking yourself into ordering that cheeseburger and listening to negative self-talk every time you look in the mirror and pick apart your image. If you want to get serious about weight loss, don’t just pay attention to how much you eat and how often you exercise – also make a mental checklist of how often you put yourself down, even as you’re trying to build yourself up. Once you get an idea of how damaging your attitude really is to your goals, start putting encouraging thoughts and images into your mind. Stomp out those negative thoughts and keep a positive attitude, even when things aren’t looking so great. So you missed a workout and had a piece of cheesecake for breakfast – so what? Don’t beat yourself up over it. Rather, tell yourself you’re human and you’re allowed to make mistakes now and then, but you’ll do better next time. Visualize yourself at your goal's end and you’ll find yourself there sooner than you know.

Now you know and knowing is half the battle!

'No Time To Exercise' Is No Excuse

"Time is wasted, time walking Time, time You ain't no friend of mine. " - Hootie & the Blowfish

Alright, cheesy song I admit but it brings up a real issue in the fitness industry. The catch-all excuse of I don't have enough time to exercise is ever present but now its simply not true. New studies have shown that short bursts of very intense exercise — equivalent to only a few minutes per day — can produce the same results as traditional endurance training!

From Science Daily:

"The most striking finding from our study was the remarkably similar improvements in muscle health and performance induced by two such diverse training strategies," says Martin Gibala, an associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University.

Gibala's team made headlines last year when they suggested that a few minutes of high-intensity exercise could be as effective as an hour of moderate activity. However, their previous work did not directly compare sprint versus endurance training.

The new study was conducted on 16 college-aged students who performed six training sessions over two weeks. Eight subjects performed between four and six 30-second bursts of "all out" cycling separated by 4 minutes of recovery during each training session. The other eight subjects performed 90-120 minutes of continuous moderate-intensity cycling each day. Total training time commitment including recovery was 2.5 hours in the sprint group, whereas the endurance group performed 10.5 hours of total exercise over two weeks. Despite the marked difference in training volume, both groups showed similar improvements in exercise performance and muscle parameters associated with fatigue resistance.

"Our study demonstrates that interval-based exercise is a very time-efficient training strategy," said Gibala. “This type of training is very demanding and requires a high level of motivation. However, short bursts of intense exercise may be an effective option for individuals who cite ‘lack of time’ as a major impediment to fitness."

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News from the World of Fitness: Updated National Fitness Guidelines

One of the biggest questions the trainers at Main Event get asked is:

How long should I work out each day?

While the answer to that question depends greatly on the person and their fitness level - updated national exercise guidelines released by the American College of Sports Medicine give a good idea of how to structure your workout.

From Science Daily — By Nancy Dohn

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GAINESVILLE, Fla.---Fitting aerobic exercise and weight training into busy schedules may have just gotten easier. Updated national exercise guidelines released by the American College of Sports Medicine Wednesday (June 3) in Orlando show breaking up aerobic exercise into three 10-minute sessions throughout the day can be just as effective as one 30-minute session.

In addition, performing one set of weight lifting exercises (eight to 12 repetitions) will build the same muscle endurance and strength as doing multiple sets, said University of Florida exercise physiologist Michael L. Pollock.

New to the national guidelines, last updated in 1990, is the recommendation to perform weekly stretches to increase muscle and tendon flexibility, which reduces potential injury and maintains function as people age, Pollock said.

"The first guidelines established in 1978 looked mainly at the importance of cardiovascular exercise. In 1990, strength training exercises were added as part of an overall fitness program," Pollock said.

"These current guidelines include flexibility exercises and modifications to aerobic and weight training based on current research that will help the average person adhere to a fitness program."

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