Jeff's Thoughts

• Stopping the silliness!

  6 April, 2013

  

  Getting real results from the gym

  I have walked into a gym too many times here in Wellington and seen people working on those ‘problem areas’ such as the back of the arms (often using tricep kickbacks) or endless sit-ups to somehow reduce the stomach. Lets break the myth now: sit-ups do not lower body fat on the stomach and tricep kickbacks will not tone your arms, and do not contribute to a good weight loss programme.
  At Studio41 personal training studio we know that burning body fat is about keeping the heart rate high and burning calories (fat) through demanding exercises recruiting large muscle groups. Sit-ups, conversely, are a relatively easy exercise with a low heart rate. Done properly you will be strengthening your abdominals, but don’t confuse strength with body fat. The amount of body fat covering a muscle is not directly correlated to the strength of that muscle. So although there maybe a case for doing sit ups, losing bodyfat on your stomach is not one of them.
  For a fat loss programme, the maximum rest you should have is 60 seconds between exercises (I know this may be hard in a busy commercial club). The logistics of leaving your piece of equipment for another only to come back 2 minutes later to find someone sitting on it are hard. But it has to be done. Believe it or not, the difference between 60 and 75 seconds rest is significant, so make sure you are starting the next exercise promptly, not still sipping water and 30 seconds away from the next exercise. This means you are actually moving quickly with minimal time to rest (or chat to your personal trainer about your weekend) – after all you are there for results. This is one thing we pride our selves on here at Studio41. All trainers have stop watches and will stop you from talking if it means you want start your next set on time. If your personal trainer here in Wellington does not use a watch while training you come down and we will happily show you what having a trainer should be like.
  When you are lean, though, these exercises actually make sense. Now you want to show off what has been underneath all that fat all along. But if you can’t manage 10 bodyweight dips or pull-ups you don’t need to do arm exercises. You will get enough benefit from keeping your exercises on a general push and pull level, which still works the arms but uses more muscle groups and of course keeps the heart rate higher. Use the following programme and when done with the correct rest times, it is an incredibly hard workout. Note that there is a stomach exercise included, but only one in amongst all that hard work. Note – the A1 is done with the A2 and then back to the A1 again until 3 sets is done. Then the same is repeated with the B exercises and 3 exercises are done in a row for the C exercises before repeating with the C1 again.

  A1 Back squats (3 Sets of 15 – then 45 second rest)
  A2 Pull-ups using neutral grip (3 Sets of 15 – then 45 second rest)
  B1 Lying leg curls with feet neutral (3 Sets of 12 – then 45 second rest)
  B2 Flat bench presses (3 Sets of 15 – then 45 second rest)
  C1 Dips (3 Sets of 15 – then 30 second rest)
  C2 Reverse crunches (3 Sets of 20 – then 30 second rest)
  C3 Leg presses – (3 Sets of 20 – then 60 second rest before back to C1)

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