Alright everyone, it is time for me to vent a little bit. After spending the past few years in the fitness industry I have seen a lot of questionable things. Things that, at times, make me wonder "where the heck did they come up with that?" With that being said, I have come up with three of the biggest pet peeves of mine (believe me, there is more but I want to keep this short and sweet).
Pet Peeve #1: Females training differently than males. Most females I come across want some workouts that are designed for women. I am not exactly sure what that means. If an exercise is good for a male, how could it be bad for a female? I understand that there are some body composition differences between the sexes but if your overall goal is fat loss, which is most often the case, than the training program shouldn't differ all that much. There is one difference that I have come across that involves stubborn areas of body fat with women. For that, if the goal is to get really lean, they have to do a little more cardiovascular work. I am not talking about long, slow bouts of endurance training or step aerobics, I am talking about some high intensity cardiovascular training. At the end of the day, I think it all comes down to presentation of material. There is a perception that women and men need to train differently. The perception comes from women not wanting to build muscle. A stronger muscle is a tenser muscle. A tenser muscle is smaller in size as it is more compact. A more compact muscle is occupies less space which means you will shrink down a bit. Too much muscle is a good thing!
Pet Peeve #2: The relationship between exercise frequency and results (or lack thereof). Everyone works out for their own reasons, whether it be for improved health or they just want to look and feel better. Two common ways to address this is through diet and exercise. Talking about diet is sometimes like talking about politics or religion at a dinner party. You might not always get an audience willing to take your advice or there are some people who just lie. With that being said, I am going to focus on exercise here, and how frequent you do it. This should not come as a surprise to anyone but working out 2-3 days a week just isn't going to get it done. If your mission is to improve health, you have to be more active than that. It does not matter how hard you work on those three days, it is not enough. If you aren't getting the results you'd like, then increasing the workout frequency throughout the week is the next step. Unfortunately, people choose to undereat rather than adding a day or two or three of exercise into their routine. So instead of cutting more calories, get outside, get out of breath and break a little sweat!
Pet Peeve #3: "Only If It Helps" Principle. This one is motivated by the individual who stands on a BOSU ball, on one leg, and does overhead triceps extensions with an 8 pound dumbbell. What are you really getting out of that? You're not overloading the muscle because the weight is too light. Are you improving balance? Maybe, but do you really have to stand on one leg on a BOSU ball? You can get some good balance work in without the use of props and putting yourself at risk for potential injury. So I get back to the principle itself: Only If It Helps. When choosing an exercise, pick one that is helping you reach your goals. It should have a purpose. It should not put you at risk for injury. Don't do something because you think it "looks cool". Train with a purpose, dont train to look cool.
End of rant.
Chris Fluck
