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Top 5 Myths BUSTED about women working out

Posted on July 23, 2022August 10, 2022 by Frank Miller

As a personal trainer, I have heard a variety of reasons women give for not wanting to workout a certain way. Where these ideas even stem from, I have no idea. What I do know, is that these myths have stood the test of time and still loom the thoughts of most women entering the gym. I have compiled a list of what I think are the TOP 5 myths about women and working out. Hopefully this changes the training dynamic for women…

5) MYTH: “As long as I workout I can eat anything”

BUSTED: Your reward for a hard workout should be some lean meat and “good” carbohydrates, not cake. It is a fallacy that not only women, but a lot of people think about their workouts. If you just worked out for an hour and burned about 500 calories, fantastic! You are really hitting it hard! Then you say “now that I burned those extra calories, I can have a donut and maybe even some ice cream.” Well, all you would be doing is putting back on those 500 calories (probably more) onto your body with “zero nutritive” foods. You’d essentially be going right back to where you started…zero results. Good workouts should be rewarded with good nutrition and it is THE ONLY WAY you are going to get a slim waistline or a tight butt in the long run.

4) MYTH: “Weight training is dangerous”

BUSTED: Well, so is driving a car in rush hour traffic, eating raw fish, and drinking alcohol. I am sure we could all make valid arguments for why all those things are dangerous; and we probably do those things way more than weight training! The thing is, weight training can be dangerous; if you don’t know what you are doing (just like all the other things). Don’t be like the woman in the picture, who by the looks of it, has no clue what she’s doing. If you are weight training, you just need to make sure you are doing exercises with correct form and posture. Weight training not only builds muscle, but it helps increase you metabolism, strengthen joints and bones, improves energy and mobility, and even burns fat! It is probably the least dangerous of things of the said above examples and also has the most benefits.

3) MYTH: “If you are using weights, they should be light”

BUSTED: This is common recommendation given to women from all sorts of “expert” sources and even personal trainers. Look, this may have a shred of validity to it depending on the woman’s physical condition as well as a variety of key health factors. However, working out with soup cans is not quite going to cut it. With any weight training routine, putting a certain amount of “load” or resistance on the muscles is the only way for the body to change. If you are doing bicep curls with 8lbs for 20 reps with ease at the beginning and the same 2 months later, did you really make any progress? Probably not. Ladies, you CAN train with heavier weights. You CAN do the challenging exercises that men do too. There is no such thing as “manly exercises”. By challenging your body with more weight you are forcing your body to adapt to a tougher routine. And a routine that forces your body to adapt, you will attain more lean muscle and less body fat.

2) MYTH: “Weight training will make me bulky, I don’t want to look like those bodybuilding women”

BUSTED: As a trainer, and as a trainer who knows his stuff…I can’t even tell you how nuts this makes me. First, unless you are eating a colossal amount of calories, and I mean 3000-4000 with no problem (which the average woman would NEVER eat that much anyway), you are NOT going to put on size. Second, a females body just does not have the amount of testosterone as men do to synthesize proteins to form “huge” muscles. Biologically, it’s just not going to happen. And as far as those huge female bodybuilding competitors, they are possibly adding a little something extra to their bodies to get that way. With a progressive weight training routine with a proper load, women can get stronger, leaner, and lose more body fat than typically all other training methods. Which leads us to our final myth…

1) MYTH: “I don’t need to use weights to be skinny, i’ll just do cardio”

BUSTED: Your primary goal is to “lose some weight and get a little toned up.” This is the most common goal women have when it comes to working out, and usually said in that particular way. I feel as if doing cardio on a treadmill or elliptical is almost a preset in most women ‘s minds when it comes to working out and that it is the only way to get skinny. Not only with women but with most people new to exercise I feel as if they maybe correlate moving fast on a treadmill and being hot entails the “burning” of fat; that the fast paced exercise for a long period of time must have a useful effect because of how much they are sweating. Perhaps it is a psychological stigma that has been drilled into our minds about what we think we know about exercise. The fact is, in order for women to get skinny and toned, it takes a COMBINATION of both weight training and aerobic exercises. Doing an excessive amount of cardio alone will just end up burning both fat and muscle, and probably more muscle if you are not dieting correctly. Your cardio should be done to help burn extra calories while the weight training will enhance your muscle tone, definition, skin tightness, all while still burning calories and fat!

So, you are ready to tackle the weight room with a whole new perspective on weights! Now just don’t forget about the diet!

TOP 3 MISTAKES you are making in the gym

Posted on July 10, 2022August 10, 2022 by Frank Miller

There are a variety of interesting things I see people doing at the gym that really serves them no real benefit. I’ve narrowed it down to these TOP 3 mistakes…

3. Steady-State-Cardio

If you are still stuck on the elliptical for the past year with minimal results, its time for a change. High Intensity Interval Training has been shown to be more effective in anaerobic and aerobic capacity as well as burning fat. These exercises are short, explosive bursts of energy followed by a minimal to moderate rest. There are numerous studies out there that state High Intensive Interval Training burns 9 times as many calories as jogging on a treadmill! So if you want maximal fat loss in a 1/3 of the time you’d be on a treadmill, you need to do some interval training!

2. Improper warm up

To many times I have seen people head right to a treadmill, run for 5 minutes and then go bang out some chest and triceps. Or better yet, doing a few warm up arm circles just before they hop on the bench press. My question to them is, how is working on your aerobic capacity a warm up for your anaerobic exercises? And how was swinging your arms around for 10 seconds helpful? It’s not. In this example, if you are training chest, you should be performing a variety of shoulder exercises such as internal/external rotations (as seen in the picture) to warm up the rotator cuff, then do a couple of sets of the exercises you are performing to get the muscle active. That, is the proper way to warm up.

1. Improper Form/Technique

Are you a gym goer that has had some sort of lower back pain or annoying shoulder pain? It is most likely due to improper form or poor technique over a period of time. On any given day I would dare to say that 50% of the people in the gym are not doing exercises correctly. It is very difficult to bite my tongue when I see people doing deadlifts with a rounded back or a lat pull-down with an abdominal crunch thrown in the mix. Proper form is absolutely crucial to your results. It is the difference between increasing muscle protein synthesis and fat burning or potentially injuring yourself. My suggestion to you is to get an experienced trainer even if its just for 2 or 3 sessions just so you can learn how to PROPERLY workout. With proper form you can maximize your results more quickly and efficiently!

Learn to Love working out

Posted on January 15, 2022August 10, 2022 by Frank Miller

accolades fitness When you make fitness enjoyable, you are more likely to continue doing it far a long time.

Study after study has shown that regular physical activity — even at moderate levels — enhances physical and mental conditioning, while reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes. . . The list of benefits goes on.

But unfortunately, many Americans still choose a life on the couch. The good news is you can jump start your health with a few quick “shifts”.

Find something you enjoy. Keep experimenting until you find an activity that you take a liking to, both mentally and physically. If you don’t like what you’re doing, you won’t be motivated to keep it up. If you’re not sure what you like, explore: there are numerous styles of fitness training you can try, go for a jog on the beach, try a spinning class, or even take up martial arts.
Set goals. Write down your goals. Believe me; everything becomes that much more real when it is on paper. But be realistic. If you’ve started out jogging for 15 min, don’t aim to run a marathon by next week. Set goals that are specific, quantifiable, and time restrictive to encourage progressive changes towards your main goals.
Challanage Yourself. Look, if you dont challange your abilites, you’ll end up in the same place you are right now. If your idea of a workout is to walk on the treadmill…thats fine. However, if you do the same speed, and same pace everytime, your body never has the ability to get stronger. Same thing with lifting weights. If everytime you go into the gym and lift the same 10lb dumbbells for months, you will never enhance your strnegth…You’ll just be really good at lifting 10lb, and nothing more. Try increasing what you do in small increments over time. Every workout, walk 1 mile faster, and do it for 5 min longer. Lift 15lbs and do about 5 more reps than you did with 10s. You’ll see how much faster your body changes vs. doing the same EXACT thing over and over.
Schedule your workouts. Make exercise as high priority as a doctor’s appointment or a business lunch. After all, your health is most important in reality. Don’t let other “important” things diminish the importance of your physical fitness and health. Take the time to sit down with you calendar and plan all your workouts accordingly. Keep the schedule as with anything else.
Reward yourself. “All this suffering has to be for something right?!”, a client once said to me. Reward yourself as you complete smaller goals to motivate you to stay on track toward larger goals. When you can complete a successful 5 mile run or do 100 push-ups, for example, reward yourself with a new shirt or go buy something you like. It is the essence of positive reinforcement. Reach a goal, get a reward.
Forget about the all-or-nothing approach. Don’t have an hour to exercise? Try 30 minutes. It’s better than nothing, and your body will still reap the rewards of a shorter workout. It is here where a lot of excuses come up. “oh man, I missed Monday’s workout, and Wednesday it looks like I can only do 30 min. I guess ill just skip Wednesday and probably Friday as well since I missed the other day… I’ll just start fresh next Monday.” KNOCK IT OFF! Before you know it, it is 6 months down the road, you haven’t started, and you are 12 pounds heavier. Less is more!

And finally, If you “fall off the wagon” of good workout habits, don’t beat yourself up about it. Simply get back to your routine without further procrastination. Remember: it’s about progress over time, not perfection.