
Here are the 5 biggest CRIMES of fitness:
The Number 1 Crime:
Using stationary, weight machines (e.g.: the leg extension or seated row). Stop wasting your time! Get off the weight machines and grab a medicine ball or some dumbbells. Stand up and move. Your body really benefits from movements like squats and deadlifts. Your stomach will be flatter but more importantly you’ll move better throughout the day.
2: Exercising too long:
An effective workout can be completed in 30 to 45 minutes. You can target your whole body, burn lots of calories and get a sweat on! It’s about intensity, people. For example: try to incorporate squats and shoulder press together or a one-legged deadlift. You get a greater calorie burn and you are also using your body in a functional way.
3. Not changing your diet:
As much as you don’t want to admit it, you need to stop with the excess food and change the types of foods you eat. In my 10 years as a trainer, those clients that change their diet (reducing the process food, cutting down on sugar, decreasing alcohol and bad fats. Increasing veggies and protein) always get the best results.
4. Doing the same workout over and over:
Doesn’t that sound irritating? Over and over and over and over? Imagine how your body feels. When commencing a fitness routine, your body gets the hang of it all within the first 2-4 weeks. I see so many people doing the same 5 or 6 exercises and their bodies all look the same, they never change. Shake things up and get out of your exercise rut. Try exercising in a new way. If you swim a lot try light jogging instead. If you are stick of the gym’s four walls join a group exercise class.
5. Giving up:
The amount of times I hear ‘Oh, I don’t exercise, I didn’t see any results’. It drives me crazy. When I delve deeper and ask the question “how long did you stick to it for?” and hear 2 weeks, I know that the exercise component wasn’t to blame but the individual was. You must remind yourself, fat loss takes time. Except to loose .05- 1 kg of body fat every 1-2 weeks combined with reducing your calorie intake and moving more.
A total body transformation will take anywhere from (depending on your training consistency, intensity, diet, sex, age and genetics) 6 weeks to 12 months. Stick it out because those results are well worth it.
So now you have the low down on what do steer clear of and do more of. I am expecting you all to have perky, tight buns of steel and rock hard abs in no time!