Trainer says to workout... Less?!

Thanks for all your replies! I'm not in an actual Crossfit class, but I said "crossfit style" because the trainers took a Crossfit workshop/certification program and incorporated SOME aspects (We don't do that weird snakey pull-up thing, for example). Lately we've been doing regular weight training with some explosive exercises, but yes... My trainer said while everyone else does tons of reps, he said I can do less reps with more weight. as for the other person being lighter than me and squatting 225lbs, that's great! I just started squatting with weight last week so I'm new... Today we were given 8-12 reps with heavy weights. Planks are easy for me so the trainer put me on 2 medicine balls with a plate on my back.

Why wouldn't you just go to a real crossfit box instead of a trainer who just took a one day class and wasn't good enough to start his own place?


It sounds like your trainer is making you do a lot to waste your time and keep coming back for more sessions. If planks are so easy for you why don't you do them with your arms extended or with one arm. Or all together not even do planks at the gym but instead do them on your own when watching tv. Save the gym for stuff you actually need to be doing in a gym and get your moneys worth.


Oh yeah and you're bending forward too much for the high bar squat that you're doing

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I'm at a healthy weight for my height, but have been wanting to lose 10lbs & tone up my softer areas (Upper arms, core, love handles). I was going to 3-4 workout classes a week (Crossfit style weights & cardio) and on my off days, I'd go on the recumbent bike at a somewhat challenging program for 1 hour -or- running 30mins on the treadmill. Of course there'd be 1 day in the week where I did nothing.

My trainer said to build muscle & help fry those last 10lbs, I should use heavier weights with less reps and do NOTHING on my rest days. He said if I wanted to, I could do light cardio like walking or an exercise bike with little resistance but said it wasn't necessary. I understand muscle needs time to rebuild itself, but no cardio? At all? I get some in the gym classes but I wonder if my body will put on fat since it's expending less energy? I've been using heavier weights but not feeling sore the next day or like my workout has gotten harder

I've always been a bit unsure about the burning fat vs. building muscle, and the ability to do both at once considering one requires less calories & one requires more. Some say you can, some people say no. Just speaking out my thoughts...

This is exactly right!! Do what he says .. you'll be amazed at your results. Cardio is not your friend if you're working on the last 10 lbs and trying to lose inches. You need to lift heavy .. Where is Californiagirl?? She's an MFP-er and is amazing!!

Do what your trainer advises .. he/she does know what they are talking about .. now-a-days trainers have to be certified through college to train :flowerforyou:

You won't be sorry you followed his direction!

If you don't feel like you are doing work then you probably aren't going heavy enough.

I think your trainer just didn't want you to do so much cardio that you negated your strength training.

Truth.

If you're going heavy enough you will hurt for days after

This is simply not true. DOMS is not a good (or even decent) indicator of workout effectiveness. Many people do not "hurt for days after" a workout regardless of workout intensity.

If you lift heavy, you will break down your muscles. If your muscles break down, you will be sore. This is how building muscle works.

But your right, somebody who's gained 50lbs of muscle over the last 6 years staying in single digit body fat the entire time must know nothing about training. Many people don't hurt because many people aren't willing to go the extra mile (without over training).

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Your trainer is right! :-)

If you lift heavy, you will break down your muscles. If your muscles break down, you will be sore. This is how building muscle works.

But your right, somebody who's gained 50lbs of muscle over the last 6 years staying in single digit body fat the entire time must know nothing about training. Many people don't hurt because many people aren't willing to go the extra mile (without over training).

Relax, I'm not doubting your training knowledge. I was just explaining that I am using the heaviest weights I can (With no one assisting me during lifts) & I'm still not feeling soreness or "the breakdown of the muscles" the next day. I feel like I'm working hard, my legs almost gave out during the weighted lunges. I definitely look like I'm suffering during the workouts, I'm not breezing through it at all. I always try really hard, I'm not a girl that chooses the easier options the class gives. You can tell me to go heavier so I hurt more, but the transfer from 45lbs bar to 55lbs bar can't be done that easily for me. When given the 55lbs bar, I just can't get back up if I squat with it. Same if I use the 45lbs bar for presses or thrusters.

Do you have any advice on mental or physical tricks to lift weights that feel like you can barely do 1 rep? Because that's how it feels for me to move up to the next bar Should I be asking someone to help me lift it in the beginning?

As other's have said, back off the cardio some. Lifting heavy you'll burn calories both while lifting and while recovering, and will allow your body to use what food you do it to repair itself rather than burn it through cardio.

The thing with lifting heavy that is hard to learn and can only be learned by learning your body is how much volume you do. Sure 2-3 sets of a really heavy weighted exercise will be hard to do, but sometimes it's that push into the 4th or 5th set that really makes the difference. I've noticed in myself that over the years even if I go heavy but don't get in enough sets, I won't be sore despite being completely wiped out after my workout. It's a learning curve for sure, unique to everyone and the only way to get there is to have that drive to push yourself. As Mohammed Ali said (albeit about sit ups but it goes for everything); "I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that's when I start counting, because that's when it really counts."

Also, I'm not really a fan of crossfit type stuff to build strength. Going heavy demands 2-5 minutes between sets sometimes. A few other things you can do to build strength would be drop sets or alternating weekly between higher reps/lower weight and lower reps/heavier weight. Heavier stuff should be 3-6 reps, volume 8-12, as a general ballpark.

With squats focus on driving through the motion with your legs, exploding up. Get your mind in a place where all you want to do is literally explode up, weight be damned. Grunt, scream, **** yourself...whatever it takes to get that weight moving.

Just stick to the routine and keep progressing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNEf2CGXjf0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuDMu0EZGM

So common knowledge in the powerlifting and bodybuilding communities over the last 50+ years is wrong? You mean the guys that I've learned from that have won national titles don't know what they're doing? Must be because they don't make youtube videos. Seriously, where do people get this from?

You don't get sore when your body adapts to what you're doing. Which gives you 3 choices to get stronger. Different exercises working the same muscles, more volume (reps or sets), or more weight. Doing the same thing over and over and not getting sore means you're not making progress because your body isn't doing anything new that it has to adapt to. This isn't rocket science.

Just stick to the routine and keep progressing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNEf2CGXjf0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuDMu0EZGM

So common knowledge in the powerlifting and bodybuilding communities over the last 50+ years is wrong? You mean the guys that I've learned from that have won national titles don't know what they're doing? Must be because they don't make youtube videos. Seriously, where do people get this from?

You don't get sore when your body adapts to what you're doing. Which gives you 3 choices to get stronger. Different exercises working the same muscles, more volume (reps or sets), or more weight. Doing the same thing over and over and not getting sore means you're not making progress because your body isn't doing anything new that it has to adapt to. This isn't rocket science.

Yes much of the "common knowledge" from the last 50 years is wrong. I completely agree with the bolded section though. Progressively getting stronger is what increases muscle. The presence of or lack of soreness or pushing to failure is not the determining factor.

"Chasing the pump" "meal frequency" "meal timing", "going until failure"..just a few examples. Just because a person does not get sore does not mean the did not sufficiently work the muscles.

"Chasing the pump" "meal frequency" "meal timing", "going until failure"..just a few examples. Just because a person does not get sore does not mean the did not sufficiently work the muscles.

Meal timing...proven to work. See any form of carb cycling/timing for proof, as well as protein absorbtion.

Meal frequency, debatable and entirely goal dependent. If you want to be a 250+ lb bodybuilder, the only way you can get the amount of calories required to do that is eating every 2-3 hours. If you want to be a buck fifty and shredded, then ya, you can get away with 2 big meals a day.

Failure, again, depends on how that style of training is employed.

Chasing the pump, entirely a bodybuilding oriented form of training.

Muscle soreness, goal dependent. Absolute strength or developement, you're gonna hurt. Being "fit" or "in shape", not required.

Let me repeat, if you are truly going as heavy as you can, you will hurt for days. I'm not talking lifting "heavy" 3-6 reps, I'm not talking about hitting your PR and calling it a day. I'm talking about balls to the walls do or die lifting. Fainting after a set and puking in the parking lot hard. No matter how long you've been training, if you go that hard, you will hurt, I promise. If you've never gone that far (or don't care too) I can't describe how amazing it is.

Please tell me this isn't serious advice.... to work so hard you faint and throw up? Good lord.

He sounds very serious but it is absolutely not necessary for us mere humans!

Yeah and dont forget about the injuring yourself cause of poor technique and Im not talking about nailing your balls to the wall or whatever!

Why wouldn't you just go to a real crossfit box instead of a trainer who just took a one day class and wasn't good enough to start his own place?

you mean a 'real crossfit box' where the coach got certified in a two day class? and you don't have to be 'good enough' to start a crossfit box. anyone can as long as you get certified, which you do by attending a two day training class. that's why there are a jillion crossfit places.

Why wouldn't you just go to a real crossfit box instead of a trainer who just took a one day class and wasn't good enough to start his own place?

you mean a 'real crossfit box' where the coach got certified in a two day class? and you don't have to be 'good enough' to start a crossfit box. anyone can as long as you get certified, which you do by attending a two day training class. that's why there are a jillion crossfit places.

No I mean one where you do your research and your trainer knows his stuff. Its the same for anything else. You could join a crappy mma gym just like you can find a crappy gym trainer or a crappy box. all those fitness "certifications" are pretty much meaningless.

When I say good enough you need to be good enough to keep it going. You'll know when you're in a good box when the majority of the members and coaches are all fit and making serious gains and progress. you also need a place who does their own programming as well. At my box we dont just do random nonsence metcons all day. We have strength training, with sufficient rest between sets to allow you to lift heavy enough. Those portions follow low rep shemes typically so it isnt cardio masked as heavy lifting. When we do a metcon at the end they're usually under 15min.

It seems like people have googled a 5min metcon and think thats all people do at crossfit. Or you have trainers doing stupid things and calling it "crossfit style" when theres no such thing.


Another example is there are a jillion equinox fitness clubs in nyc around here but all of them arent the same. In nyc only one location actually has bumper plates and olympic platforms. So someone couldnt say "omg its stupid to work on olympic lifts at equinox" when you have no idea which one they go to, you're just assuming theyre all the same