Supertraining Blog.com » Aerobic Training

10 Exercise Myths that Won’t Die, Debunked by Science

Supertraining — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:32:42 +0000

"No pain, no gain!" "You’ll never bulk up without supplements." "Crunches are the key to six-pack abs!" It seems there are more questions and half-truths in the market about healthy exercise than there are clear, definitive facts—but the exercise industry is a multi-billion dollar business in the United States alone, built partially on selling gadgets and DVDs with incredible claims to people desperate to lose weight or look attractive.

Meanwhile, good workout plans and simple truths lurk in the background waiting for their time to shine. All of this results in a ton of misinformation about exercise in general, and while the reality is different for everyone, we’re taking some of those commonly held exercise myths to task, and we have science to back us up. Let’s get started.

Myth 1: No Pain, No Gain
Myth 2: Soreness After Exercise is Caused by Lactic Acid Building Up in Your Muscles
Myth 3: Exercise Takes Long Hours/Is Worthless If I Can’t Exercise Regularly
Myth 4: You Need a Sports Drink When Exercising to Replenish Your Body’s Electrolytes/Minerals/Etc
Myth 5: Stretching Before Exercise Will Prevent Injury
Myth 6: Working Out Will Only Build Muscle, Not Help Me Lose Weight
Myth 7: Exercise Will Help Me Lose Weight Quickly
Myth 8: You Need to Take Supplements to Build Muscle
Myth 9: If You Don’t Exercise When You’re Young, It’s Dangerous When You Get Older
Myth 10: Working Out at Home/Working Out at the Gym is Better than Working Out at Home/Working Out at the Gym

Read the full article on Lifehacker.

Benefits of Elliptical Exercise Machines – NOT!

Supertraining — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:37:09 +0000

Here are 3 Reasons to Avoid Elliptical Machines

The latest Men’s Health magazine comes down on elliptical machines hard.

Now I know elliptical machines are often the only option for people with bad knees, but if your knees are healthy, think twice before using the elliptical machine for these three reasons.

First, on page 52 of the December, 2008 issue, Men’s Health warns, “Never trust elliptical machines”.

They quote a study that found elliptical machines over-estimated the number of calories burned in a workout by 31%!

Ouch.

So if your “elliptical cardio workout” burned 400 calories, the truth is you really burned closer to only 300 calories.

Second, later in the Dec. issue, Men’s Health magazine interviewed Biggest Loser contestant Ed Brantley. Ed lost 73 pounds on the show, but had this to say about elliptical machines, “I hated the elliptical. It was too easy, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything.”

Exactly. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

But that’s EXACTLY why elliptical machines are so popular…

You see, the third reason elliptical machines are inferior for fat loss is because they fail my “human nature” test.

Put it this way…

Take 100 people and put them in a gym with 100 treadmills and 100 elliptical machines.

Tell them they have to exercise for 30 minutes at a hard pace, and they have the choice to use either the treadmill or the elliptical.

Guess where 90% of folks are going?

The elliptical!

Why?

Because it is human nature to take the EASY WAY out. And that is why elliptical machines are so busy at the gym and you rarely see anyone doing intervals on a treadmill or bodyweight circuits in the corner of the gym.

Often I see folks using the elliptical machine only to say they “worked out”, but without getting any REAL work done.

So if you are stuck at a fat loss plateau, and you’ve been counting on the elliptical machine to help you out, then forget it.

To burn fat and get more out of your workouts, do interval training outside, on a bike or treadmill, or with kettlebell exercises or bodyweight circuits.

For more interval training and bodyweight workouts, visit Turbulence Training

These are all better options in your fight against the fat,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Turbulence Training

The Quest for the Perfect 6-Pack Abs

Supertraining — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:11:46 +0000

The Quest for the Perfect 6-Pack Abs

The perfect “6-pack” abs are a much-flaunted media asset, and models of both genders are often seen sporting them in pictures for everything from affordable coverage health insurance to exercise equipment, and from cleaning products to vitamins. Judging by the folks on television, anyone should be able to show off a flat stomach, and rippling abdominals.

But is that really possible? For men, who lose weight rapidly once regular exercise is undertaken, it may be. For women, especially those who have never exercised before, it’s incredibly difficult, and often requires a drop in body fat so low that the menstrual cycle is disrupted. Nevertheless, women and men spend huge amounts of money on gizmos and gadgets to help remodel their bodies, when in most cases, what’s needed is elbow grease.

Three Key Factors

The key to defining your abs, most fitness trainers agree, is threefold: you must have good nutrition, cardiovascular conditioning, and an ab-specific workout.

Nutrition

There’s an old-school computer phrase “garbage in – garbage out,” which means that if most of your calories come from processed foods, your body will be unhealthy and malnourished. Making wise food choices, then is essential to defining that 6-pack. Eat natural, whole foods, with an emphasis on vegetables and protein, and not on carbs. Avoid sugar and too much fat. You don’t have to give up all sweets, but you do need to limit them.

As well, while you don’t have to starve yourself, you should be aware of how often, and how much you eat. Rather than counting calories, eat five or six small meals every day to keep your metabolism active, which not only gives you energy but also prevents over-eating.

Hydration is vital also. Eight glasses of water a day is a minimum recommendation, and if you’re working out, you need more. Be very careful of flavored waters, unless you’re squeezing in your own lemon or lime. Some have more sugar than a can of soda, and others are sugar-free but contain alarming amounts of sodium.

Cardio Conditioning

While improving your diet is never a bad idea, it won’t take off the fat layer and let your abs be seen. For that, you have to exercise, and when it comes to burning calories, that means cardio.

Cardiovascular condition comes in many forms: walking, running, cycling, spinning, aerobics, and dance all help strengthen your heart and lungs, while your burn calories. Unlike strength training, you can do cardio every day – and you should. It doesn’t have to be a lot – 30 minutes a day is sufficient for most people, but make sure you stretch and drink water before and after. Water can be sipped during your workout as well.

If you don’t include aerobic activity (and all cardio workouts are aerobic), you’ll be wasting a lot of time doing unnecessary ab exercises.

Ab Workouts

It’s true that a lot of abdominal focus is unnecessary, and “spot reducing” really doesn’t work, some strength training is necessary for muscle definition.

Your abs consist of three layers, which, from the deepest to the outermost are the transverses abdominis, which acts as a sort of girdle for your body, providing stability and support and helping with exhalation, the rectus abdominis, which flexes your spine, and the internal and external obliques, which allow you to twist and turn, and provide your body with lateral movement and rotation.

Just as with any other muscle group, abdominals respond well to slow, steady isolation techniques. A combination of stretching exercises and strength training is an excellent way to improve the condition of your abs, and you don’t need to overdo it. You wouldn’t do fifty bicep curls, and you don’t need to do fifty crunches. In fact, if you have a comprehensive weight lifting routine, that exercises every major muscle group, your abdominals will get a workout even when they’re not the targeted area.

Remember, however, that unlike cardio, you should never do strength training every day. Skip a day between workouts to let your muscles restore themselves, and you’ll see better results with a much smaller risk of injury.

Even better, anything that strengthens your abs, which are a core muscle group, benefits your entire body: you’ll have improved posture, less back pain, and more power behind golf and tennis strokes, as well as less pressure on your knees.

Achieving the Goal

It’s important to remember that most people who achieve the 6-pack look are in their twenties, and have never had issues with cellulite. For real men and women, especially those who are over thirty, you are far less likely to develop “perfect” abs.

However, with good nutrition, and a balance of cardio and strength training, you can still have a stomach you can be proud to bare in public, as well as being healthier overall.

Craig Ballantyne Bodyweight Cardio 500 Workout

Supertraining — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:47:35 +0000

For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

In this video, Craig shows you how to lose fat and gain muscle with the Bodyweight Cardio 500 workout.

Here is the video on YouTube

>> Click here to download the Turbulence Training 4-week ebook

Do You Really Need “Cardio” Workouts?

Supertraining — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:45:24 +0000

Do You Really Need “Cardio” Workouts?

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

In this article, I have an intriguing discussion about cardio workouts, which will hopefully get you thinking differently, and trying new things.

You may know I’ve been called the anti-cardio guy before, but this week I’m back posing the question to you… Do you really need cardio training to get lean and in great shape? By the way, you’ll see in a minute that I’m not really “anti-cardio”, just “anti traditional cardio”.

Most fitness buffs, weekend warriors, or anyone trying to get in shape or lose body fat, consider it a fact that they need “cardio” exercise to accomplish these goals. They would never even question it. However, I’m not only questioning it, I’m going to refute it! In fact, you may be surprised to know that some of the leanest and meanest people I know (men and women), NEVER do any type of normal or traditional cardio. And I’ve spent over 15 years working out in various gyms, and hanging out with athletes of all sorts, so I’ve seen it all.

I will say that there can be a place for low-moderate level cardio for really overweight or deconditioned people, but even in those cases, there can be more effective methods.

But what exactly is “cardio”? Most people would consider cardio to be pumping away mindlessly on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, or coasting on an elliptical machine, while watching the TV screen at their state of the art gym. This is what I call “traditional cardio”. Hmmm, no wonder the majority of people get bored with their workouts and give up after a couple months without seeing results.

But if you look closer, “cardio” exercise can be considered any type of exercise or activity that strengthens the cardiovascular system. I’m not going to get into anything technical like increasing your VO2 max or anything like that. To keep it simple, if it gets your heart pumpin, and gets you huffin and puffin, it’s cardio. I don’t care if you’re holding dumbbells or a barbell and everyone calls it a weight training exercise…it’s still conditioning your heart.

Let’s take a look at a couple examples. Take a barbell (or dumbbell, or kettlebell) clean & press for example, which involves lifting a barbell from the floor up to shoulders, then push pressing overhead. And listen up ladies, because even though this is usually seen as a manly exercise, it doesn’t matter if you’re not lifting 250 lbs; if 45 lbs is challenging to you, then you will still benefit just as much.

At first glance, most people think of the barbell C&P only as a weight training exercise or strength exercise. However, I challenge you to do a hard set of around 10-15 reps on the C&P. If you used a challenging enough weight, what you’ll find is that your heart rate is probably up to about 80-90% of your recommended max, and you are huffing and puffing like you just ran a 100-meter sprint (which by the way, sprinting kicks the crap out of jogging any day if you want the easiest way to lose the flab).

Try the same thing for a set of 20 reps of one-arm snatches or swings with each arm with a kettlebell or dumbbell, and tell me your legs aren’t burning, heart racing, and you’re gasping for breath. How about trying 5 minutes straight of bodyweight squats, lunges, and pushups with very little rest. Again, notice your heart pounding, sweat pouring off of you, and chest heaving for breaths!

Try and tell me you’re not conditioning your heart with this style of training! Conventional thinking says that these are weight training or strength training exercises. However, they are fullfilling your cardio workout needs as well.

Not only do you save time, but you strengthen and condition almost every muscle in your entire body with these full body exercises if you do them with enough intensity…something that can’t be said for that boring stationary bike ride or treadmill jaunt while reading or watching TV. Seriously, if you can read or watch TV while doing any exercise, you’re not concentrating enough on what you’re doing, plus you’re probably not working out hard enough to see any real results.

I challenge you to give the “traditional cardio” a rest for a month or two, and start training the way I explain in my internationally-selling Truth about Six pack Abs Program, and see how you start getting leaner, more defined, and your six pack starting to show through what used to be stubborn stomach fat deposits.

Effects of Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 3

Supertraining — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:32:39 +0000

Doing Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 3

By Jason Ferruggia

Intervals

The good- intervals allow you to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time and keep your metabolism elevated long after you finish doing them.

The bad- if you are training legs two or even three times per week, you can not do intervals more than once a week without overtraining. Let me rephrase that; you can but eventually it will lead to overtraining or at the very least slow down your strength gains. You can negate this slightly by keeping your leg training volume extremely low and doing your intervals on the same day as your weight training. You can’t do five to eight sets of legs two or three days a week and 30 minutes of intervals on top of it. That’s a dead end road.

You also have to remember to do your intervals on your training days and not on off days like you might do with other forms of cardio because that will lead to overtraining much quicker.

The ugly- if you choose sprinting as your form of interval training you could get hurt; it’s an ugly truth that has to be faced. The thing that will lead to even more injuries is following faulty interval protocol advice. Normally it is recommended to do 30-60 second intervals when they are being performed on a stationary bike. A lot of people take these recommendations and apply them to sprinting. This is a huge mistage! Nobody can sprint for 30-60 seconds. Ok, not nobody; but most average people can’t do it. World class athletes can sprint for that long, but not everyone else.

Don’t believe me?

Go try it. Warm up thoroughly and try to sprint for 60 seconds straight. Let me know what happens. We have all seen the Olympics and how winded guys are after sprinting the 100 which happens to last all of ten seconds. Most of us have seen guys run the 40 and not be able to catch their breath for at least a few minutes afterwards. And that takes five seconds or less. Not only is sprinting for 30-60 seconds impossible for most people but it also greatly increases the risk of injury.

When you keep your sprint distances and times very short, you decrease the risk for injury because you never hit top speed and instead spend most of your time in the acceleration phase. This phase has the least potential for injury. For that reason, most people should be running 20-50 yard sprints. This keeps you at top speed for a very short period of time; usually little enough time to maintain form and not suffer an injury. When you run at top speed for too long the chance for a break down in form and thus an injury is greatly increased.

I would never recommend that a non athlete ever try to sprint for 30-60 seconds straight and you should never take that advice from anyone. It is faulty and dangerous. To further reduce your injury while sprinting, use adequate rest periods between sets. Also, running with a sled slows you down enough to avoid top speeds and makes sprinting much safer.

Bottom Line- Intervals are a great tool for getting ripped, however when your main goal is to get big and strong and just keep fat gain to a minimum, they should be used sparingly if at all. I would recommend sprints above intervals on a bike and even then I wouldn’t do them in true interval fashion but more of a traditional speed workout with short sprints and adequate rest periods. This will still elevate your metabolism greatly and keep you lean. Just look at the physiques of Olympic sprinters for proof of this; that his how they train. Sprint, rest… no intervals.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/

Effects of Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 2

Supertraining — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:31:21 +0000

Doing Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 2

By Jason Ferruggia

The purpose of doing cardio when trying to get bigger and stronger is to keep you lean, improve your insulin sensitivity and allow you to eat more calories. What kind of cardio will have the least negative effect on your size and strength gains? That’s a no brainer; walking. The great thing about walking is it will not impede your progress in the least, the bad thing is that you have to walk for a bare minimum of 45 minutes to really burn a decent amount of calories and you will not elevate your metabolism much after walking. That is the great thing about interval training; it elevates your metabolism dramatically for long after you have finished your workout.

With that being said, I would still choose a good fast paced hour long walk on the beach over sitting on a stationary bike inside while pounding away on some brutal intervals. I despise intervals on a bike with a passion. My ass goes numb, my balls go numb and I get a splitting headache. Not to mention that I am bored to tears within three minutes. Plus, I think we all do more than enough sitting and the last thing I want to do is sit some more while I’m supposedly “working out;” my hip flexors are tight enough already, thanks.

If you love to ride a bike then that is fine and you should do what you love. But for God’s sake, go outside and do it. People will actually get in their cars and drive ten minutes across town to walk inside a gym and sit on a stationary bike and ride it for twenty minutes and then drive home. Why not just ride your bike across town? I don’t get it.

So we have established that low intensity, long duration cardio (walking) is the best option for those who are concerned with any losses in size and strength whatsoever. This method was a favorite of many great bodybuilders such as Dorian Yates. Another option here, is to just go for a long slow/low intensity bike ride. Either one works great; but again I warn you to protect your nuts, aka get a good seat.

Next on the list is medium/moderate/high intensity steady state cardio. This kind of cardio is a little tricky because it can elevate cortisol and lead to losses in size and strength. To prevent this you need to be sure to limit the time spent doing this to 30 minutes, max. Two days a week should be safe and three days would probably be ok for most people as well. It’s when you get into the 4-7 day per week, 45-60 minute marathon sessions that you see people at the gym doing (whose bodies never change in the least from one year to the next)all the time, that you get into trouble. If you limit your use of this method you should be ok.

Lastly, we have intervals which we will cover in part 3.

Effects of Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 1

Supertraining — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:04:49 +0000

Doing Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 1

By Jason Ferruggia

There is much debate and controversy on the subject of doing cardio while building muscle. Once and for all I am going to set the record straight. So without further adieu, here’s the real deal on doing cardio while trying to gain size and strength…

If you are a beginner who also happens to be a ripped ectomorph who has to fight for every ounce he gains (e.g. a classic hardgainer), I suggest that you lay off cardio almost entirely for at least 8-12 weeks. Get your training and diet down and pack on some size. In that time you should be able to gain at least 15lbs of muscle if not 20+. After you have done that you can add in some cardio. I would start with three weekly sessions of twenty minutes of moderate intensity cardio; no intervals. Use a bike to limit the amount of eccentric stress or pounding on the joints. And remember there are actually things known as real bikes that go outside, not just stationary bikes that people park themselves on to watch Oprah. Although, if you choose that route, get one with a well padded seat that will not lead to the death of your sex life.

If you are beyond the beginner level you should always be doing some kind of cardio on a regular basis, be it intervals, moderate intensity steady state, or low intensity, long duration steady state. Again, don’t limit yourself to machines indoors; get outside and drag a sled, run sprints, jump rope or play a sport. That’s a lot more fun anyway. I think everyone should be doing something like this at least three days per week for at least 30 minutes. It’s healthy and prevents a host of health problems, not to mention that it keeps you in shape and looking good.

Contrary to what many people believe, cardio can actually be of great benefit to those looking to get bigger and stronger. Not only does it improve the cardiovascular system and thus improve the quality of your weight training workouts but it allows you to eat more muscle building calories while staying lean. To pack on 20-30 pounds of muscle you have to eat an inordinate amount of food. Doing some cardio will help ensure that you don’t get fat from all the excessive eating.

The bottom line is that everyone but absolute beginners should be doing some kind of cardio type activity at least three times per week for thirty minutes. This will not inhibit size or strength gains in the least but may actually enhance them. You should vary your activities and intensities as much as possible. You can do cardio immediately after you train, although I prefer to do it on non weight training days or later in the day after training because I am usually too spent after lifting to give it my all on the cardio. Doing it on off days is usually a better option anyway because it serves as an active recovery activity and also gets you burning some calories on those days.

Jumping Rope with Kim Strother Part 2 – Ford Models Fitness

Supertraining — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:54:03 +0000

Ford Models Fitness provides engaging workouts from professional fitness models Kim Strother, Chris Comfort, Bryan Winston, and Sabina. Their passion for fitness has made them forerunners in the field of personal training.

In this video, Kim Strother returns with another rope jumping workout that builds on her earlier video. Grab a rope, some floor, and get jumping!

Part 1 of the video is here.

Kim Strother and Tara Stiles Spinning Class – Ford Models Fitness

Supertraining — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:50:31 +0000

In this video, Kim Strother and Tara Stiles along with Dr. Mehmet Oz, New York Sports Clubs and Snapple invite you to ride in Saints & Spinners – the 24-hour spin party and benefit at Grand Central Terminal. All net proceeds benefit HealthCorps in their fight against teen obesity.

Supertraining Blog.com » Aerobic Training

10 Exercise Myths that Won’t Die, Debunked by Science

Myth 1: No Pain, No Gain

Myth 2: Soreness After Exercise is Caused by Lactic Acid Building Up in Your Muscles

Myth 3: Exercise Takes Long Hours/Is Worthless If I Can’t Exercise Regularly

Myth 4: You Need a Sports Drink When Exercising to Replenish Your Body’s Electrolytes/Minerals/Etc

Myth 5: Stretching Before Exercise Will Prevent Injury

Myth 6: Working Out Will Only Build Muscle, Not Help Me Lose Weight

Myth 7: Exercise Will Help Me Lose Weight Quickly

Myth 8: You Need to Take Supplements to Build Muscle

Myth 9: If You Don’t Exercise When You’re Young, It’s Dangerous When You Get Older

Myth 10: Working Out at Home/Working Out at the Gym is Better than Working Out at Home/Working Out at the Gym

Benefits of Elliptical Exercise Machines – NOT!

The Quest for the Perfect 6-Pack Abs

Craig Ballantyne Bodyweight Cardio 500 Workout

Do You Really Need “Cardio” Workouts?

Effects of Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 3

Effects of Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 2

Effects of Cardio While Building Muscle- Part 1

Jumping Rope with Kim Strother Part 2 – Ford Models Fitness

Kim Strother and Tara Stiles Spinning Class – Ford Models Fitness