Everyday Fitness

Ah, the age old question. You can't spend a day at a gym without overhearing this. Hell, I used to wonder what the golden number of sets and reps was. Truth be told, I should have spent less time worrying, and just lifted them weights. Still, it was nice to find some analysis on the subject. When looking at increase in muscle size, here's the conclusions of several compiled studies:

• 2-3 sets give a significant increase in size over 1 set
  
• 4-6 sets give a significant increase in size over 1 set, and may give a larger size increase than 2-3 sets
  
• Working out for 1 hour three times a week typically gives better results than working out for 2 hours twice a week
  

I should note, these studies were done with 7-10 reps per set. According to this, it looks like the benefits of an exercise start to plateau after 6 sets. That's something to keep in mind before doing bench press, then decline bench press, then incline bench press.. or 300 sit-ups. The third and final point in that list is nice in that, I think it shows how fitting exercise into your day can be easy; squeezing in 1 hour chunks of time here and there could be more manageable than scheduling a 2 hour workout session for yourself.

Here's another segment of current research I came across on my train ride, and it has to do with deadlift mechanics. A group from the University of Illinois found a link between a person's knee and back strength, and how this changes the way a person would lift a heavy box/crate. Laying it out plain and simple; if a person's back is stronger than their knees, they lift more with their back. If the person's knees are stronger with their back, they lift more with their knees. 

Imagine there was a heavy box/crate in front of you; how would you approach lifting it? At some point you were probably instructed to bend at the knees and lift with your legs. Let me stop and say, I think it's garbage to assume our legs need to do all the lifting. Of course you need to engage your back to stabilize the lift as well! The old saying "lift with your legs" has good intentions though; you don't want to bend the back too much and muck up your spine. Anyways, there's one less obvious point I want to take away from this research:

We're too comfortable using the strong parts of our bodies and ignoring the parts that need improvement

Sure, in certain aspects of life it makes sense to stick to our talents. I'm good with the sciences, so I'll make a career out of research. I won't try making a living by painting, for example, because I'll end up living on the streets (So much for a gym membership then!) But when it comes to our bodies, it's a "you're only as strong as your weakest link" scenario. Varying the sorts of exercises you expose yourself to will lead to an optimal full body fitness, and prevent injury down the road.

While on an 8 hour train ride, I had some time to look at recent research in exercise. I found one article that vindicates a personal bias of mine, so I thought I'd share.

A group from California State University found there's no difference in muscle activation between using a standard bench and using a Swiss ball. Every time I see someone rolling around on one of these Swiss balls, I shake my head. Now I have real reason to be against them. To me Swiss balls are one of those fads people buy into, with the advertised notion that the ball is somehow "better" than a real bench. In my mind Swiss balls are on the same level Shake Weights. Speak of the devil, it seems fitting to leave you with this:

With any new undertaking, it's one thing to read about and prepare for what you're about to do. It's another thing to do it. In actually carrying out a new task, trial and error finds what works, what doesn't, and what the whole experience means to you. Now when I say "any new undertaking" I mean anything; not just fitness related. Take a relationship for example: dating advice from your friends is no where near as valuable as what you learn from the date itself.

But I digress, let's get back to exercising. I guess you could say by now, I'm a gym veteran myself. It's been about 2 years of consistent working out. And if I had to sit a keen novice down and share my wisdom, here's some of the most important things my experience has taught me:

1. To both gain and lose weight, diet is more important than anything else. Eating whole/natural foods makes counting calories almost unnecessary; it's high sugar and fatty processed foods that tend to make you go overboard on calories.
   
2. We should be getting less carbs in our diets, and a lot more fat. The low-fat scare shifted everyone to eating more carbs and guess what; people got fatter.
   
3. Don't bother meticulously timing your meals; eat when you're hungry, drink when you're thirsty. Listen to your body.
   
4. Eating 6 meals a day is no better than eating 3 a day either. In the end, net calories is what matters.
   
5. You can gain or lose 10 lbs a week in water; don't mistake this for incredible fat loss when starting a new diet.
   
6. There is no such thing as spot reducing fat; your body burns fat evenly.
   
7. Health supplements are a business just the same as any other product. Their claims are exaggerated or outright fabricated to get your money. Coffee is and probably always will be the best (legal) performance enhancer there is.
   
8. If you want to get better at a particular activity or exercise, do that particular activity or exercise.
   
9. It's better to prevent poor health in the first place than try to reverse it. There's never a bad time to start working out though, no matter what physical condition or age. Muscle and fitness are easier to maintain once you have them; the road to get there may be more trying on your willpower.
   
10. Size does not equal strength.
    
11. Working out more often does not mean more results. Exercising less often can give better results; you need to lift heavy to get stronger, not necessarily daily. Plus you'll save time.
    
12. Gyms may have some useful tools you don't but a gym or equipment aren't required to be fit.
    
13. It takes a weekend to become a personal trainer; experience is what makes someone qualified to train, not a certificate.
    
14. It's important to be realistic with your abilities and leave your ego at the door; lifting heavier is worthless if you aren't exercising properly.
    
15. One of the best things you can do for your health is try new things, and see how your body adapts. Variability is what leads to growth.
    

I never miss a day at the gym but today I felt so tired I didn't go. This was the first time in 7 months that I ever missed a day. Will it cause me to gain fat because I didn't do a lot of walking today, maybe 60 minutes of activity all day? I took in less calories than usual... Is this ok?

This above quote from the BodyBuilding.com Forums, inspired by a similar conversation I had with a friend recently.

Alright alright, I know I made a big fuss about exercise being a part of your life, and not skipping days. However, there's a line that needs to be recognized. If you are legitimately too tired and sore from your last work out, your body may benefit from an additional days rest. So even if you're used to exercising say, Mon-Wed-Fri, maybe one time you just aren't ready to exercise Friday after Wednesday's workout. Maybe you need to push that workout to Saturday instead. And that's perfectly fine, because there's a lot of factors that go into recovery: what time of day you work out, the food you eat, other physical work you do outside the gym, how much sleep you get, etc.

Matter of fact, I like taking a whole week off every few months to give my body a complete rest; this is called deloading. Deloading can trick you though! It's like my mind equates post-workout soreness with being bigger and stronger. So once that soreness leaves by the end of a deload, I feel small and weak; don't let this fool you. Once you do get back to the gym, you'll hit the weights with the fury of an angry god!

Sometimes I find myself with too many bananas than I can eat before they turn over-ripe. Recently, I came across the idea of freezing them to make banana ice cream! You freeze the bananas and put them through a food processor or blender, after peeling them of course. Simple as that. With a few minutes blending, the bananas turn into a creamy treat you can eat right then and there, or put back into a container in the freezer to scoop out later. You can get creative and throw in some additions before refreezing. Try blending in peanut butter, hand mixing chopped peanuts, mixing in other chopped fruit like strawberries, adding swirls of chocolate sauce, mixing in chocolate chunks, or even instant coffee if you'd like; anything goes!

Maybe you've been captured by a crime syndicate and forced to fight for your life, and you need to toughen up in your prison cell during the days leading up to your epic battle... or you're traveling and don't have a place to work out. Whatever the reason, here's some exercises you can do anytime, anywhere, with nothing but your own determination:

• Step-ups or Single Leg Squats: The single leg squats might feel a little awkward at first, but once you get used to the balancing they work great. To start off, you can use a chair or some object to help steady yourself. For step-ups, all you need is a sturdy chair or some sort of platform to step on to. With either exercise, you can add resistance by holding heavy house-hold objects in your hands.
  
• Chin-ups or Supine Rows: The chin-ups require a sturdy door frame you can get a grip over, otherwise they may be difficult to do around the house. I would say, you can bring a chin-up bar with you to hook onto a door, but the idea here is to get a workout with absolutely no special equipment. In that case, you can do supine rows by laying under a sturdy table and gripping the edge, pulling your body up towards the table.
  
• Push-ups, or Handstand Push-ups: You can do push-ups in many variations. You can do them leaning against a wall, on the ground with your knees resting on the floor, or as shown in the link. The real ambitious souls can try handstand push-ups. To do these, stand with your back against a wall, crouch down placing your hands on the floor in front of you, and slowly "walk" your way upside down into the handstand position.
  
• Jack Knife Sit-ups and Supermans: You can jack up the intensity of these exercises by holding them at the top of the motion for a few seconds, or a few minutes if you can handle it.
  
• Curls and Bench Dips: You can curl just about anything to work your biceps; it doesn't have to be a dumbbell! Backpacks or suitcases work well here. Also, it shouldn't be hard to find a piece of furniture you can do dips with. Honourable mention goes out to other auxiliary exercises you can do just about anywhere given a heavy backpack or suitcase: Shrugs, Wrist Curls, and Calf Raises on some stairs.
  

With all that, you should hit your legs, back, chest, core, and arms very effectively using no gym equipment what-so-ever. I like to do the above exercises in 3-5 sets of about 12-24 reps. To mix up the intensity, try performing explosive and powerful movements, do multiple exercises one after the other, or hold the exercise at its hardest point; you can easily find out the peak position which requires the most effort by experimenting.