Many people think I despise body building training, and its vast number of proponents, because its methodologies don’t coincide with what I preach. This is partially true, but only to a certain extent: I do have some issues with isolating body parts from a bio-mechanical sense, but the reality is I have a huge amount of respect for body builders. The level of dedication, commitment, and effort they have to exhibit every single day to both their training and their nutritional habits is very admirable. But to a certain degree, this is also where my problem lies:
People who attain physical improvements by training like a body builder fall into at least 3 of the 4 following categories:
· They have tons of time
· They have tons of money
· They are young
· They are taking something illegal
Go ahead: Name me someone who gets results training like a body builder who doesn’t fall into at least three of those four categories.
The reason bodybuilding sucks, and the real reason I mock it, is because 99% of people who train like bodybuilders WILL NOT get results. They will complain of back, shoulder and knee pain, or they are still overweight and/or look like they walk on their knuckles from their posture being so ridiculously bad.
The alarmingly low percentage of people who do train like bodybuilders and get good results, fall into at least three of the four categories I mentioned above.
Think about it: How much time does it take to train every single muscle group in your body individually (you know, “doing abs” then “doing back” then “doing bi’s” etc.)? Hours upon hours per week, and then some…there are hundreds of muscles in the body for crying out loud.
Generally, people who have hours upon hours per week either have someone who pays the bills for them, or have enough discretionary income that they can make their training a priority over their work rather than the other way around without financial harm being done.
Young people (18-25) by definition can do more than older people and have an infinitely lower chance of being injured while exercising. Combine that with someone else paying your rent for you, and a job (maybe) that you aren’t going to have in 6 months anyway so who cares about it, and you have a perfect recipe for training like a moron and still getting results. (On a side note, this is why I smirk at 40 somethings who still train like this but can’t figure out why they’re fat and their backs hurt – “seriously, I played high school football 25 years ago, I know how to lift.” Bawhawhawhaw!!!)
Or illegal performance enhancing drugs are used, which as someone who worked in commercial gyms for about 8 years, I can tell you are far more common than you may realize.
I’m not even going to get into the unbelievably high tolerance for boredom you need to train in this manner. My GOD there are only so many ways to flex and extend your elbow and knee – how can you possibly stand doing the same three exercises every…single…day…uuugghhh…
Now you can see more clearly perhaps why I think bodybuilding is a ridiculous choice of training methodology for 99.9% of us. The overwhelming majority of people I know don’t have 10 or more hours per week to exercise, do not have excessive discretionary income, are not 20 years old and don’t use drugs.
For those of us who aren’t young, rich and bored with all our free time, we need to come up with alternatives. We need to get results in a few hours per week, without risking our health, without bankrupting ourselves, and have fun doing it. I know, that’s not an easy task – luckily, you know me.
Send your hate mail to thetrainingrim@gmail.com.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
GET FAT FOR SUMMER!
This is an article that's going to appear in The Monitor magazine next month: It may be old news to my loyal readers, but worth a review anyway...
No, that’s not a misprint. Of course nobody WANTS to get excess body fat before donning the swimsuits and heading to the beach, but unfortunately that is precisely what people do when taking up an exercise program more often than you may realize.
The reasons for this are multi-factorial and far too expansive to get into here. Typically due to misinformation, half truths and outright prevarications seen in the media and heard from friends at “the gym” many people perform activities that not only are ineffectual for fat loss, but may actually contribute to adding body fat.
However, if indeed you are one of those few who are looking to have some extra cellulite on which to rub tanning lotion this year, here’s what you need to be doing if you want to GET FAT:
1. PERFORM LONG “CARDIO” SESSIONS
Performing long cardio sessions ensures that you will keep your metabolism very low. There is an inverse relationship between the intensity of exercise and the duration of exercise. Therefore, going at a slow to moderate pace only guarantees the intensity of your workout will stay down, decreasing caloric expenditure not only in your workout but through the rest of the day, week, month, etc. And if you think those long cardio sessions are tough, you may want to reconsider: By definition if you can do something for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, etc, it can’t be too intense or you wouldn’t be able to do it for that long.
2. AVOID STRENGTH TRAINING
People mistakenly associate strength training with hypertrophy, or “getting big”. Strength training and hypertrophy are not synonyms. By avoiding strength training, you are only avoiding becoming stronger. Possessing more total body functional strength in itself forces you to burn more calories. Additionally, in the event you do crash diet and lose weight temporarily, without muscle tone you’ll look like a skeleton covered in loose gray skin. Very hot…
3. USE BENCHES AND MACHINES AT THE GYM
If you’re exercising on a bench or machine – you are SITTING! Seriously, have you seen the padded seats on some of the machines at the gym? I have recliners in my TV room that aren’t that cushiony. This is not an issue that requires a degree in physiology to understand: You are burning exponentially fewer calories sitting than when you are standing. And there isn’t one exercise in existence that utilizes external support like a bench or machine that can’t be modified so it can be performed standing.
Conversely, if you find the thought of adding body fat unpleasant and are looking for alternatives that will get you looking better for beach season, come check out some of the one on one sessions and small group sessions at The Training Rim. You’ll get results and you’ll have fun doing it – we guarantee it.
About the author: Jon Rimmer is the owner of The Training Rim personal training studio in Belford and has been training clients of all ages and ability levels for over a decade. He holds a Masters Degree in Exercise Science and is a contributing writer for strengthcoach.com and ptonthenet.com, two of the world’s leading resources for trainers and conditioning specialists. He is also the author of “Iron: Kettlebell and Body Weight Training 101” to be released in the spring of 2010.
No, that’s not a misprint. Of course nobody WANTS to get excess body fat before donning the swimsuits and heading to the beach, but unfortunately that is precisely what people do when taking up an exercise program more often than you may realize.
The reasons for this are multi-factorial and far too expansive to get into here. Typically due to misinformation, half truths and outright prevarications seen in the media and heard from friends at “the gym” many people perform activities that not only are ineffectual for fat loss, but may actually contribute to adding body fat.
However, if indeed you are one of those few who are looking to have some extra cellulite on which to rub tanning lotion this year, here’s what you need to be doing if you want to GET FAT:
1. PERFORM LONG “CARDIO” SESSIONS
Performing long cardio sessions ensures that you will keep your metabolism very low. There is an inverse relationship between the intensity of exercise and the duration of exercise. Therefore, going at a slow to moderate pace only guarantees the intensity of your workout will stay down, decreasing caloric expenditure not only in your workout but through the rest of the day, week, month, etc. And if you think those long cardio sessions are tough, you may want to reconsider: By definition if you can do something for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, etc, it can’t be too intense or you wouldn’t be able to do it for that long.
2. AVOID STRENGTH TRAINING
People mistakenly associate strength training with hypertrophy, or “getting big”. Strength training and hypertrophy are not synonyms. By avoiding strength training, you are only avoiding becoming stronger. Possessing more total body functional strength in itself forces you to burn more calories. Additionally, in the event you do crash diet and lose weight temporarily, without muscle tone you’ll look like a skeleton covered in loose gray skin. Very hot…
3. USE BENCHES AND MACHINES AT THE GYM
If you’re exercising on a bench or machine – you are SITTING! Seriously, have you seen the padded seats on some of the machines at the gym? I have recliners in my TV room that aren’t that cushiony. This is not an issue that requires a degree in physiology to understand: You are burning exponentially fewer calories sitting than when you are standing. And there isn’t one exercise in existence that utilizes external support like a bench or machine that can’t be modified so it can be performed standing.
Conversely, if you find the thought of adding body fat unpleasant and are looking for alternatives that will get you looking better for beach season, come check out some of the one on one sessions and small group sessions at The Training Rim. You’ll get results and you’ll have fun doing it – we guarantee it.
About the author: Jon Rimmer is the owner of The Training Rim personal training studio in Belford and has been training clients of all ages and ability levels for over a decade. He holds a Masters Degree in Exercise Science and is a contributing writer for strengthcoach.com and ptonthenet.com, two of the world’s leading resources for trainers and conditioning specialists. He is also the author of “Iron: Kettlebell and Body Weight Training 101” to be released in the spring of 2010.
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