Category: Blog

Do we need the gym in order to lose fat and be healthy? A long time ago, we as humans had no clue what weight lifting or a gym even was. So, in order to stay in shape we used our bodies. Occasionally, using nature to help with strength, but mostly our bodies were doing the work. Using your body for training is a great way to stay lean, burn fat, build endurance, and overall live a healthy life.

CONS

Even though body weight training is great, it’s missing a few key elements. The fact that using your body tends to keep the stress on the muscles almost the same. There are no weights to provide that extra stress in the muscle fibers. If your goal is to gain some strength or build muscle, body weight exercises can only go so far. For example; if you see marathon runners, usually they are just using their bodies and don’t do a lot of lifting. They might be thin, but the muscle definition is not as clear as someone who weight lifts 3 plus days a week.

 

In order to really make the body weight exercises count, you must switch up the intensity, reps, sets, and rest periods. Another issue that can happen for most people, is body weight exercises can get really boring. After a while you just want something different. Doing the same exercises over and over doesn’t sound fun. Even if you switched a few things up, it can still get boring. As our bodies age, we need strength in our bones and muscles. Body weight programs can only go so far with this. Once you gain enough strength from a body weight exercise, the right way to gain more strength is by using weights, resistance bands, or even machines.

PROS

If you are a beginner or experienced, body weight programs provide a great level of endurance. Body weight programs can provide great benefits from high intensity interval training, balance exercises, core work, post rehab, and much more. When you are starting out, it may be a great idea to add body weight exercises in your routine. This way you are staying active, can learn movements, start slow, and avoid injuries. Doing burpess, jumping jacks, push ups and planks, provides great endurance, helps burn calories, and helps with core strength.

Balance is a big factor when it comes to doing anything, especially as you get older. Standing on one leg and trying to squat is a great way to build some muscle and strength, which helps with balance. Adding HIIT into the mix can be fun and energetic. For example; doing mountain climbers, burpees, push ups, jumping jacks and body weight squats as one round, helps keep the heart rate up, which can help burn fat. If you are not adding some body weight exercises into your routine, you should. Especially balance exercises to help perform other exercises.

As mentioned before, body weight exercises can be beneficial to a point. After a while, you should be adding weight training into the mix to help build muscle, strength, and burn more fat. The only real downside to body weight programs, is the amount of calories being burned and muscle being built. In order to really burn more fat and get that definition, weight training should be in your program. Also, if you are weight lifting it’s important to add body weight exercises into the mix. Certain exercises can help with balance and strength.

 

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As the years go on, new studies come out on what is good and bad for you. But, there are a few things that will remain the same. Losing weight is simpler than people think. The problem is, being consistent with these three things to really shed the weight. Since I have been personal training for over two years now, the results that people get by just doing these 3 simple weight loss tips are amazing. Look below at these 3 weight loss tips and hopefully it helps you along your journey.

Sugars

Sugar can be in different forms. Some may be better than others such as brown sugar vs white, candy sugar vs sugar from fruit. But, remember too much of something can be bad. The thing that kills most people and makes them gain weight, is the excess sugars. Sugars from soda, junk food, fast food, white pasta, white bread, white flowers and so on. White sugars metabolize different in the body. White breads vs whole grains make a big difference. Whole grains can have more vitamin B12 which helps speed up metabolism. White sugars when metabolized through the blood stream can lead to high blood pressures, diseases, heart issues and more.

This comes down to people saying stay way from carbs. This is true, but white carbs not whole grains. When people lose weight, they say that they ate less carbs or a low carbs diet. First, never do that. Carbs are your main source of energy, so eat whole grains if anything. The reason they lose weight is because they are having less crappy white carbs than before. So, they think carbs overall are bad. No, it’s the white carbs and white sugars that are bad. So, if you choose to lose weight, change white breads and sugars with whole grains and healthy fruits.

Vegetables

The way vegetables metabolize in your body is different from how white bread metabolizes. Veggies can help you stay more full so you don’t feel like snacking as much. Now, most of us know that the taste of veggies isn’t the greatest. But, it’s okay to add some of your favorite seasoning. If it’s full of sodium, just only put enough for the flavor. Over doing it is what causes issues. Veggies can protect against certain diseases, helps with weight loss, helps with heart and brain function and overall makes you feel amazing.

Remember, carbs from veggies are different from carbs from whole grains.. They metabolize different throughout the body and have different effects. Yes, they both are great for fiber, but certain nutrients are different. That is why there are so many food choices, or else we would only have to eat one type of food. What i personally like to do, is chop up broccoli and mix it up with rice, chicken, meat or fish. That way you don’t have to eat giant pieces of veggies. You will be able to have a better taste while eating healthy.

 

Weight Training

The one thing people, especially women, need to understand is you are going to gain some weight when you first start weight training. Women are always afraid of getting “bulky” due to lifting weights. That will not happen unless you are taking supplements or steroids to get that way. The first month or so, your body will metabolize fats differently, so you think you are gaining weight instead of losing it. But if you keep pushing through, after the first month, the weight will start to slowly decrease. You will be burning fat and building muscle, which is the main objective for losing weight. One thing to keep in mind when you are training is, “How intense should it be?” Also, at the very least, you want to be exercising three or more days a week.

The first thing you need to know is that by doing 30-45 minutes of weight training first and 30 minutes of cardio after, you will tend to burn more fat. Your body will go through your energy storage first which is your carbohydrates, then start to kick into your fat storage. A question often asked is, “How long should I rest in between sets?” In order to lose weight safely and quickly, it is also important to keep the heart rate up, but at a safe level. You can find your target heart rate from the link at the bottom.

Usually, thirty seconds to one minute is a good rest period for losing weight and keeping the intensity at a moderate to high level. The rest can also be determined on how high the intensity is. If you do not feel like you are getting anywhere and feel slow, then rest less. You do not want to go all out where your heart rate is through the roof. This can raise your blood pressure and put stress on certain muscles like your heart. Consistently training above your target zone, especially for a long period of time, can cause your body to burn muscle more than fat. You can still train at a high level, which some people do, but not for an extended period of time. It is much safer to consistently train around your target heart rate zone. In order to lose fat and build muscle you need to be lifting weights. The best thing to do is to have a good nutrition plan, do resistant training, and cardio.

When you are lifting weights, your body will be building muscle while burning fat. If you just do cardio, sure, you can lose weight, but you are not getting stronger or building almost any muscle. Do not be afraid to lift weights, it will help you out more than you think. When it comes to doing sets and repetitions for weight loss, it is important to know that there is not one set number, like only doing twelve reps and your life will be complete! If you are starting out, you can do three sets of fifteen to twenty reps.

This is so you are not starting off lifting really heavy and your muscles can get use to the movements and weights. This can be done for about three weeks to a month. As the weeks go on, you can increase the weight and do three or four sets of twelve to fifteen repetitions. This would be adding weight and getting stronger to build some more muscle. It is also important to note that these can be mixed up as you are working out, which leads to the next part.

 

High Intensity Interval Training

 

The Mindset of Exercise

 

        As days, weeks, months and years go by, have you been changing your health in a good way? The mind can be a funny thing. It can throw you for a loop of emotions and what you really want. You might feel motivated one day and not the next. The brain tells use everything such as, can I push harder? Can I run further? Just one more? Having the right exercise mindset can change everything.

 

There can be two different types of mindsets, fixed and growth. As quoted from What is Mindset, “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”

 

If you feel that you may be both, there is nothing wrong with that. But, let’s say you have no idea about exercise and want to learn and change. Well, this is the growth mindset. You are aware that you can lose weight, but you need to figure out how and ask for help. If you think to yourself, I can’t lose weight because of X reasons, this is a fixed mindset. Sometimes, we forgot that we are humans, we need to grow and learn in order to get through life. You may not want to learn at times, but it just happens anyway.

 

 

It’s very interesting how the mind works. If you think you can grow and achieve better results, that’s where it all starts. Once you know that you can be better, your life can take a different turn. Exercise can be boring for some, but it’s how you think of exercise that makes the difference. If you think to yourself, I can find a gym, a class, do circuit training, find someone to workout with to help push each other, that can be a growth mindset. Let’s say you always think exercise is boring, you barely do it and you say it’s not for you. Well, that can be a fixed mindset. You don’t want to go out and learn exercises you might enjoy or bother finding a class you may like.

 

If you have been working out already, a growth mindset during exercise can be something as, I can run another mile, I am going to do more weight to gain strength, I need to do x,y and z in order to lose more weight. A fixed mindset can be, I don’t need to run anymore, I can’t do anymore weight, I can’t run another mile. You will be surprised how far your body can actually be pushed. If you think you can’t, sometimes you can do a lot more. The thing is, your mindset needs to change in order to grow, become healthier and stronger.

 

 

 

 

Resources:

https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/

https://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/