Want Results? FOCUS on the basics...
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Azdak
Posts: 8,281 Member
I see many of the same questions come up over and over and over again on these forums. Unfortunately there is not a convenient FAQ that can be reviewed by newcomers. Sometimes I have been known to get impatient and a little "snipey" when I read answers from people or "trainers" who are giving explanations or recommendations (e.g. the "fat burning zone") that have been debunked for over 20 years.
It often seems as though people are wasting huge amounts of time and energy worrying about things that are mostly irrelevent at this stage in their programs. These topics include:
1. What is the best exercise/workout/DVD etc for "burning fat"?
2. What is the best protein powder/drink?
3. What are the best supplements?
4. Should I count my gardening/housework/job/dog walking/motorcycle riding/sock darning, etc as "exercise"?
5. How do I "tone"?
6. How much water should I drink?
7. Should I do cardio or strength first?
8. What is the best time of day to work out?
Yadayadayadayada.........
I sometimes think that if people in general would spend 1/10 the effort on their workouts that they do obsessing about trivia, they would see a lot better results.
Because of the way the body adapts to exercise, most of these issues are just not that important for most exercisers.
If you look at any training curve, you will see a similar pattern: at first there is a sharp rise in performance/improvement during the intitial adaptation phase. Next, there is steady improvement and gains over an intermediate period of time as one becomes more proficient and consistent at training. The more trained an individual becomes, the slower the rate of improvement and the more effort it takes to see any improvement at all. When a person starts to reach 90% of so of their genetic potential, the improvement curve starts to resemble a straight line. It has been said that to improve from 95% to 98%-99% of your potential requires a doubling of your training volume.
Here's the point: elite athletes and highly-trained individuals reach a point where interventions that result in a .1%, .2% improvement can make a significant difference--they can mean the difference between winning and losing. In his book about Lance Armstrong, Dan Coyle explained how, at his peak, the difference between the champion Armstrong and his competitors was the equivalent of the strength and power of a 3-yr old child.
Most of us are NOT at that level. Most people starting a weight loss program are closer to the beginning of the curve than even the middle. What this means is that the potential for improvement in a beginning exerciser is so great that just following proper training techniques, lifing form, and having the right focus to your workouts will achieve MORE results than protein, supplements, water, "muscle confusion", etc COMBINED.
So my advice: stick to the basics. Make sure you have an overall plan, and a PURPOSE for every workout--even if that "purpose" is just to take it easy.
Focus means having a plan--match your exercise activity with your goal and current level of conditioning. If you are just starting out, choose a simpler activity that requires less skill level. Many workout DVDs (e.g. 30 day shred) are not the best choices for a beginner.
Focus means monitoring intensity--either with an HRM or perceived exertion--and working to stay at that intensity, not just going through the motions.
Focus means following the concept of progressive overload. To see continued results, you need to keep increasing the workload.
However, focus also means varying the load and the training stimulus. This means including longer, easier endurance workouts, medium tempo workouts, and shorter interval workouts into your weekly routine. It means cycling though endurance, hypertrophy, and max strength periods in your lifting as well as introducing new exercises (it does NOT mean following silly ideas such as "muscle confusion".
Focus means keeping a training log.
And finally, focus means sticking to the basics with diet--portion control, whole foods/complex carbs, fiber, sufficient protein (1g per KG), no trans fats, adequate hydration and fuel replacement after harder workouts.
Don't get caught up in the extraneous nonsense. As I said earlier, the vast majority of beginning/intermediate exercisers do not have to worry about protein, supplements, time of day, exercise arrangement, specialized exercise, etc. Many of these things have little or no effect anyway and, even if they did, the effect would be so small it would be unnoticeable compared to, say, working to failure in 10 reps on a strength exercise, including an interval workout in your cardio routine, or consistently following a 4-5 day/wk exercise schedule instead of 5 days one week, 3 the next, 2 the next, etc.
It often seems as though people are wasting huge amounts of time and energy worrying about things that are mostly irrelevent at this stage in their programs. These topics include:
1. What is the best exercise/workout/DVD etc for "burning fat"?
2. What is the best protein powder/drink?
3. What are the best supplements?
4. Should I count my gardening/housework/job/dog walking/motorcycle riding/sock darning, etc as "exercise"?
5. How do I "tone"?
6. How much water should I drink?
7. Should I do cardio or strength first?
8. What is the best time of day to work out?
Yadayadayadayada.........
I sometimes think that if people in general would spend 1/10 the effort on their workouts that they do obsessing about trivia, they would see a lot better results.
Because of the way the body adapts to exercise, most of these issues are just not that important for most exercisers.
If you look at any training curve, you will see a similar pattern: at first there is a sharp rise in performance/improvement during the intitial adaptation phase. Next, there is steady improvement and gains over an intermediate period of time as one becomes more proficient and consistent at training. The more trained an individual becomes, the slower the rate of improvement and the more effort it takes to see any improvement at all. When a person starts to reach 90% of so of their genetic potential, the improvement curve starts to resemble a straight line. It has been said that to improve from 95% to 98%-99% of your potential requires a doubling of your training volume.
Here's the point: elite athletes and highly-trained individuals reach a point where interventions that result in a .1%, .2% improvement can make a significant difference--they can mean the difference between winning and losing. In his book about Lance Armstrong, Dan Coyle explained how, at his peak, the difference between the champion Armstrong and his competitors was the equivalent of the strength and power of a 3-yr old child.
Most of us are NOT at that level. Most people starting a weight loss program are closer to the beginning of the curve than even the middle. What this means is that the potential for improvement in a beginning exerciser is so great that just following proper training techniques, lifing form, and having the right focus to your workouts will achieve MORE results than protein, supplements, water, "muscle confusion", etc COMBINED.
So my advice: stick to the basics. Make sure you have an overall plan, and a PURPOSE for every workout--even if that "purpose" is just to take it easy.
Focus means having a plan--match your exercise activity with your goal and current level of conditioning. If you are just starting out, choose a simpler activity that requires less skill level. Many workout DVDs (e.g. 30 day shred) are not the best choices for a beginner.
Focus means monitoring intensity--either with an HRM or perceived exertion--and working to stay at that intensity, not just going through the motions.
Focus means following the concept of progressive overload. To see continued results, you need to keep increasing the workload.
However, focus also means varying the load and the training stimulus. This means including longer, easier endurance workouts, medium tempo workouts, and shorter interval workouts into your weekly routine. It means cycling though endurance, hypertrophy, and max strength periods in your lifting as well as introducing new exercises (it does NOT mean following silly ideas such as "muscle confusion".
Focus means keeping a training log.
And finally, focus means sticking to the basics with diet--portion control, whole foods/complex carbs, fiber, sufficient protein (1g per KG), no trans fats, adequate hydration and fuel replacement after harder workouts.
Don't get caught up in the extraneous nonsense. As I said earlier, the vast majority of beginning/intermediate exercisers do not have to worry about protein, supplements, time of day, exercise arrangement, specialized exercise, etc. Many of these things have little or no effect anyway and, even if they did, the effect would be so small it would be unnoticeable compared to, say, working to failure in 10 reps on a strength exercise, including an interval workout in your cardio routine, or consistently following a 4-5 day/wk exercise schedule instead of 5 days one week, 3 the next, 2 the next, etc.
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Replies
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Thank you, I appreciate this post.0
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I really appreciate this too. I am a researcher by nature (and training) so my first instinct is to research the crap out of anything I am doing. When I first started focusing on fitness and fat loss about 6-7 years ago I had great success and learned a lot of the picky details about how to do things in the most "optimal" way.
Unfortunately, when I started graduate school I got sort of bogged down with analysis paralysis and started tricking myself into thinking that if I couldn't do things in the very "best" way, then it was pointless. Well guess what happened? I lost a lot of fitness and eventually gained 20 lbs back of the 40 I had lost.
That brings me to today where I am determined to get back into great shape (or better, I think) and lose the weight again. I still have a lot of the "trivia" floating around in my head, but I am making a conscious effort to keep it basic above all else.
Did cardio before weights? Oh well.
Didn't have the "optimal" post-workout meal? Oh well.
Couldn't workout for exactly as long as I had planned? Oh well.
And on and on. The most important thing for me really is to eat a reasonable amount and work up a decent sweat at least 4-5 days a week. I know a lot of the minutiae but I try not to let it clutter my brain too much or I just get overwhelmed and find myself on the couch with a cheesecake.0 -
Word.
A sight for annoyed eyes...0 -
Thank you for this post.0
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Wow! Great Post!0
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So...you are saying that if I work out in the morning after drinking 7 gallons of water I will burn the most fat, right?
Great post. Thanks for this.0 -
:drinker: Finally, someone who knows what they are talking about speaks up. I would have myself but I'm new...and don't know that much about it myself. Everything I've learned (pretty much everything you've said here), I've learned from my girlfriend. She has been training for years. She's apart of the Ross Training forums and she is very devoted. She not only logs her workouts on the Ross Training website, she also keeps a notebook of every thing she does. It's inspiring to go home and read through it knowing that one day (not any day close) I will be doing the same thing. She's been through the supplements, protein shakes, etc etc....she now knows better and does simply what you've stated here.
I agree, people get so caught up in the details that they forget to save that energy for actual workouts. Not everyone has someone like I do to go to when they have questions. They come here and post a topic and get 8564564578 different responses that probably make them more confused than they were in the first place.
Simplicity never hurt anyone. :happy:0 -
Great post...thanks for sharing0
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I appreciate you taking the time to give us such informative and in depth insight on losing weight. There is so much info out there and it's really easy to get caught up in extemporaneous "advice" .0
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Bumping ::::::::::::::: for a others to read !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!0
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Nicely put.0
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Bump0
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NICE0
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Great stuff. Thanks!0
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I appreciate this, too. I try to keep my stuff simple, but sometimes I have some doubts about this. What if I'm missing something by not eating every single one of my exercise calories and my metabolism crashes to the point of no return? Oh no! :happy: I just keep trying to remind myself that by keeping my fat butt out there moving and keeping my heart racing I'm doing just fine. I eat a lot of really nutritious food, I'm NOT feeling the least bit deprived, and I try not to stress too much if I go over on a nutrient or if one day I only get 6c of water or what have you. I do good most of the time, and I'm VERY consistent with my workouts. (Loving what you do really helps with that.) I'm trying to slowly build up to something resembling athleticism. I won't be there next month, but I will get there some day. In the mean time, I'm trying to have FUN. My energy and endurance are getting way better, and my clothes are getting looser. I have stayed OFF the scales and tried instead to focus on non-weight goals, like "I want to get physically stronger so I can do lots more push-ups."
This makes me feel pretty good at this point. Again, thank you so much.0 -
Right on! You are absolutely correct Azdak, but I think as people we have this psychological problem where there must be some sort of "trick" to losing weight and being atheletic. We're trained to look for short-cuts and hidden passages, to get the "edge" above the mainstream who struggle through the basics. We're consumed with seeking out the "get thin quick" ideas, or the "get rich quick" ideas - and it plays right into the hands of snake oil salesmen.
I remember advising a friend to just avoid the breads and eat green veggies instead and he'd probably lose a pound a week on that alone and he told me "a pound of week! that's way too little, it would take forever" and continued eating his sandwich. I was thinking to myself, "dude, your planning on living through at least another couple years, given that a year is 52 weeks, you could be 52 lbs lighter next year, I mean why do you need so much bread anyways?"0 -
Great post!0
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thank you for making it real , i have always read to much into things my thought at this minute is eat less exersise more you will lose weight does not matter how long it takes .0
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bump =]0
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Thanks for the excellent information. I think most people who are on the weight loss journey need to be educated. Most people have many "ideas" but are lacking the basic knowledge of what it takes to loose weight. Knowledge from professionals like you are so important to demystify all the media hype that we see everyday. Please keep educating us at MFP!0
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