It’s impossible to target just one area

Have you seen one of those countless new ab (lounger, rocker, blaster) machines that promise to help you tone your midsection? Do you believe they will do everything promised, from flattening your tummy to helping you lose weight? If you believe the hype it’s time for a spot reduction intervention.

Working only one part of your body, be it your arms, thighs, abs or butt, won’t get you the results you crave. And no, buying a several hundred dollar machine to target that area won’t make a bit of difference.

Why women want spot reduction
Every one of us has a body part we loathe. Even women who are generally happy with the way they look can pinpoint at least one body part they wish was a little smaller, firmer or more defined.

In an ideal world we could decide to work just that one area until it suits us. You’re satisfied with your weight overall but wish you could remove some of the fat on your thighs? Go out and purchase a thigh machine and use it everyday religiously until the fat starts melting off your legs.

You know as well as I do (probably from experience) that it’s never going to happen, but when you’re unhappy with the way your body looks it’s easy to get caught up in a product that promises easy solutions.

Why is spot reduction impossible?
• Fat can’t turn into muscle – The idea behind some of these spot reduction promises seems to be that training one body part will transform the fat in that area to muscle. Muscle and fat are two completely different things, one can’t turn into the other.
• Ab exercises don’t burn calories – After my last point you may be thinking, “It shouldn’t matter if fat can’t be transformed into muscle. If I work my abs shouldn’t I be losing fat in that area while also building muscle?” The answer is no. Losing weight (fat) requires expending more calories than you take in. About 3,500 less calories a week will result in one pound lost. Ab exercises (or most other isolation exercises) done alone burn a very small amount of calories, meaning no weight loss. So although you may be building ab muscles, they’ll likely be hidden beneath layers of fat
• You can’t choose where your body will gain or lose fat – Look around your group of girlfriends the next time you’re all together. Chances are you all have very different shapes. Even women who are the same height and weight carry their pounds differently. Some (apple shapes) store fat in the middle, while other (pear shapes) have small waists and larger hips and thighs. You can’t control where your body stores fat, so there’s no use trying.

A complete approach to fitness, which includes aerobic exercise and total body strength training is the only way to lose weight and reveal a toned body. Don’t be surprised if you find your body has its own ideas about where the weight will come off first.

crystals Uncategorized, women's fitness, working out fitness myths, toning abs

After a number of unsuccessful wakeboarding attempts at a cottage a few weeks ago I came home with a bit of a bruised ego, not to mention a sore lower back. Maybe it’s because I wrenched it trying to turn the board sideways and glide it up over the water (I’m told the board does this on it’s own if you “let it” but I think one of my more successful friends was just rubbing it in). Maybe it’s because I wanted to stand up so bad I held onto the rope as the boat wrenched me through the waves.

Either way, I ended up at work the next week with pain that made it difficult to sit for any length of time. The pain made my Pilates and yoga classes even more difficult. After some rest and stretching I’ve gotten back to my usual routine, but it got me thinking. I consider myself to have a pretty strong core. I do Pilates several times a week and never neglect the less popular core muscles (transverse abdominis, erector spinae) in favor of working my six pack muscles. I make sure my movements are slow and controlled, with deep breathing and a focus on quality over quantity.

You may take this to mean that it doesn’t matter what you do or how good of shape you are in, you can still get injured. I guess that’s true, but I look at it as a sign that what I’ve been doing has paid off. It took a lot of abuse before my back let me know it wasn’t happy. Imagine I’d strained it lifting a heavy box or that it simply hurt due to lack of muscle strength. After the strain I got back on my feet pretty quickly. Because of my experience with strength and flexibility training I knew what I could and could not do and worked my way up to being pain-free. I feel sorry for people who haven’t experienced how healing strength training and can be.

crystals muscle building, resistance training, working out injury, resistance training

It’s possible to get effective exercise with a limited cash supply, in fact it’s more than possible to get a total body workout without spending any money at all. But if you’ve got some extra green and are itching to spend it, there are worse ways you could go about it than buying fitness toys.

I for one would rather pay for non-essential items that can help me stay fit and healthy than ones that keep my eyes glued to a screen with my butt on the couch and a remote in my hand.

My dream home gym:

1. Elliptical machine or cross trainer – What cardio machine would I buy if I had unlimited resources? A gym-quality Precor elliptical is a the top of the list, but I’d be just as happy with a good cross trainer. Treadmills are good for variety but I love how easy ellipticals can be. They’re great for adding cardio to strength training intervals or just jumping on for a 10 minute sessions throughout the day.
2. Free weights, bands and accessories – In my dream gym there would be no isolation machines. I’d have a row of dumbbells of every possible weight and resistance bands of every strength. And for those situations where skipping from a 10 to 12 pound dumbbell is difficult, I’d have a supply of  half pound weight magnets to make progression easier. I’d use the resistance bands alone to work my muscles in new ways and pair them with dumbbells or bodyweight exercises to make things more challenging. Push-ups alone are tough, but with a resistance band pulling down against your upper back there’s no comparison.
3. Cables – The other weight training I enjoy most is done on a cable pulley machine, so of course I’d need one of them. Glute kickbacks, cable chops, airplane rows and more can keep me busy for hours.
4. Flat screen TV - I’m not picky about this aspect of my gym. Just a television that’s a decent size and mounted on the wall.
5. Workout video library - Pilates, yoga, dance, kickboxing. I don’t do workout videos on a regular basis but I love watching them for new ideas and the dance ones are just plain fun.
6. Balance toys - BOSU, fit disk, foam roller (also useful to roll the tension out of sore muscles afterward). All these essential balance tools have an important place in my gym. Did I mention a stability ball, which I could use for killer ab workouts and the most challenging balance moves.

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At-home workouts using soup cans and staircases (or anything else you can covert to strength building or calorie burning equipment) are great if you’re low on cash or hesitant about shelling out for quality products right away. But there will probably come a point when you’ll want to try new things. You’ll also realize that spending money to keep your body in shape is a really good investment. Until then I’ve got you covered.

$10 – Ok, so it’s not much, but at least it’s a start. If you spend that $10 wisely it can actually go a long way. There are three items your money can get you that will help tone your entire body and burn calories fast. A jump rope for high-intensity cardio and one or two resistance bands. It’s really as easy as that. The best part is that all three items are easily stored and can be taken with you to work and while you travel, so you can fit in fitness anytime, anywhere.

$50 – With more money you can afford a decent set of free weights, which will help increase your metabolism by building muscle. Look for dumbbell sets with at least three different sizes and avoid any that offer only super lightweight 1, 2 and 3 lb weights, which won’t provide much challenge. A set of 3, 5 and 8 lb weights is much better, and you’ll be able to double them up to increase the resistance when you need to. The second thing you should spend your money on is a stability ball, which can cost as little as $10 or $20 and is great for exercises that target abdominals. If you’ve got a few dollars left over, and you should if you took the time to seek out the best deals, a resistance band is the only thing missing. You can use it on its own, or with the weights and ball to really add some challenge to your workout.

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It seems no matter how many times people hear certain advice, they quickly forget the importance of following it. At least I assume that’s why most people who strength train only follow the slow and controlled protocol when their trainer is watching.

Also most people are trying to get through their workouts as quickly as possible so long-lasting reps aren’t really a priority. I know this because I occasionally have to fight my own urges to throw form out the window and allow momentum to power me through a hard set.

But I know deep down that if I’m not doing my reps right I might as well not be doing them at all. I want my body to be strong, but I also want to work the right muscles and maintain good posture. And I don’t want to risk an injury by swinging weights around instead of controlling them.

Take your time to lower the weight.

So here’s the deal. Most of the time you should be lifting and lowering weights slowly, especially if you are relatively new to resistance training. About two seconds for the beginning part of the movement (the concentric contraction)  and four seconds to bring the weight back to the starting position (the eccentric contraction). That means two seconds to curl a dumbbell up with your bicep and four seconds to lower it back down.

If you really want to speed your workout up, try cutting down on the amount of time you rest between exercises instead.

A word of warning – the slower you go the less weight you’ll be able to lift. But that’s a good thing because you’ll know your muscles are actually strong enough to handle it. So start slowing down for faster results.

crystals muscle building, resistance training, working out strength training, working out