People who go to the gym to workout to lose body fat often don’t know where to start or are given bad advice. If you are serious about losing body fat, you must read this article before you head off to the gym
1. Not every Workout without Song!
Not every Workout without Song
Did you ever pay courtesy to the music of your favorite TV show or film? Did you ever curious why particular songs were playing at particular times? Music induces feeling, and feeling can carry you through even the hardest of workouts. I’ve had exercises completely come separately when the battery perished on my iPod Nano!
Numerous studies have been shown to show the effect of songs on workouts. One study presented that positive, hard-driving music can increase your power and intensity, while another study exposed that music has been shown to increase pain tolerance during a workout.
Putting on a couple of earphones also benefits you to block out all the interruptions that appear at the gym (as previously noted). From time to time, just hearing the opening beat of some tunes on my iPod gets me revved up – especially since I work out first thing in the morning (more on this in future issues of the newsletter).
Some of my favorite tunes on my workout list include a variety of genres:
– “Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
– “Welcome to the Jungle” – Guns ‘n Roses
– “Beautiful Day” – U2
– “Wake-up Call” – Maroon 5
– “Enter Sandman” – Metallica
– “Higher” – Creed
Make your own workout mix and get moving!
2. Never Workout without a Heart Rate Screen!
Never Workout without a Heart Rate Screen
The finest way to retain yourself truthfully in the gym is to dress a heart rate monitor. A heart rate monitor will let you see how tough you are working, and when you need to crank up the strength of your workout. Whether mass training or pause training, it is the best indicator of how tough you are working and helps you to figure out your optimal rest intervals.
For example, during interval training, you need to create an oxygen debt – that is, your body is asking your lungs for more oxygen than it can provide. How do you recognize this is happening? After you stop your hard effort, your heart rate should actually increase, and you begin to pant in an effort to take in more oxygen – and that is your debt situation. Having the HRM makes it much cooler to determine when you’ve gotten to this point.
I’ll go into the optimal ranges for your heart rate activity during exercise, calculating your maximum heart rate and other relevant information. For now, get a heart rate monitor, read the manual and take it for a test drive. You don’t need one with all the bells and whistles (unless you’re into gadgets like me) – my favorite brand is Polar, and you can get great prices by searching the Web.
3. Stop Socializing at the Gym!
Stop Socializing at the Gym
Every gym has one – I call him “the Mayor”. He’s the one who knows everyone and feels the need to come over and talk about just about anything. He’ll do his very uninspired set on one of the weight machines, often grunting loudly or distorting his face to get further attention, and when he finishes says “Whew!” loudly to no one in particular.
The poor soul who acknowledges him will then be subjected to a 10-minute discussion on the economy, the presidential race, the stock market, or whatever strikes his fancy. He may even horse around with the personal trainers, who are now not watching their clients as they perform their sets.
You should avoid the Mayor at all costs – he will derail your fat loss efforts in an instant! In fact, you should avoid all interactions during your workout, except for asking someone if they are using a particular weight or rack. If you’re following my advice above and working out to music, this is really easy to accomplish – just turn up your tunes and tune out the others.
Folks at my gym may think I’m anti-social because I don’t acknowledge anyone – heck, I don’t even look at people – while I’m in the middle of my workout. Why? Because I only have a limited time to accomplish my goals for that day, and stopping even for a moment to chat takes away from the time I have.
And if I don’t reach my goal for that day, I consider it a failure (more on that in future newsletters). To combat people’s perceptions, if you care about things like that, a simple smile or wave of hello as you enter or leave the gym is enough to reassure them that you are not a recluse. But once you strap on your music, it’s “Go Time!”
4. Never Workout without Consuming Protein Afterwards (and Sometimes Before)!
Never Workout without Consuming Protein Afterwards
I train first thing in the morning, so sometimes I drink a protein shake prior to heading to the gym, and sometimes I don’t. There is a lot of debate over working out in a fasted state that I won’t get into here. Suffice it to say that consuming protein before your workout has been shown in research to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat, so it is a good idea to have a protein shake before a workout, especially if you’ll be working out later in the day.
You should always consume protein after a workout, preferably a protein shake made from whey protein isolate. I will go into far greater detail in the following news-sheet about trustworthy brands, tasty recipes, etc. How much protein? Take your current body weightiness and divide by 5.5 – that is how many grams of protein should be in your post-workout shake.
What about carbs? The conventional knowledge says that the number of grams of carbs in the post-workout shake should equal the number of grams of protein. BUT…what I have found from my study and practice is that post-workout shakes are extra effective for fat loss if they are kept low in carbs. One of the aspects of protein drinking that will be covered later is exactly how many grams should be consumed in a day, and questions about safety concerns from ingesting large amounts of protein.
5. Stop Stretching Before Your Workout!
Stop Stretching Before Your Workout
Do you know how many people walk into the gym from the street and immediately start to stretch? Do you know how counter-productive this is?
First, there are two kinds of stretches – static and dynamic. An example of static is when you throw your leg up on a parallel bar or rack and bend at the waist until you feel a slight pull, then hold for a period of time. Static stretching before workouts is a very bad idea. Static stretching forces the muscle to relax, making it weaker. When a muscle is weaker than its counterpart (for example if your hamstrings on the backs of your leg are weaker than your quadriceps in the front of your leg) it causes an imbalance that could lead to strains, tears, and pulls.
Dynamic stretching is the way to go to get loose before your workout. We’ll cover this in greater detail in the future. For now, save your static stretching for any time other than before your workout.
Conclusion
The five Fat Loss Mistakes You Are Making at the Gym People who go to the gym in an effort to lose body fat often do not know where to start or are given bad advice. Putting on a couple of earphones also benefits you to block out all the interruptions that appear at the gym. From time to time, just hearing the opening beat of some tunes on my iPod gets me revved up – especially since I work out first thing in the morning (more on this in future issues of the newsletter). A heart rate monitor will let you see how tough you are working, and when you need to crank up the strength of your workout.
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