Jeff's Thoughts

• Why cross-trainers make me cross

  6 March, 2013

  A standard 20 minutes on a cross-trainer seems to be the way many gym-goers spend their time these days. No thought is put into it, just the belief that it must be doing them some good. When weight training, because we have the ability to apply systematic overload, we know that after four to six weeks there is minimal benefit in doing the same exercise routine over and over again. So we change. It’s pretty simple really: work hard and measure your results; when the results stop, change your exercise (we don’t pretend to be clever).
  Too many people, however, are doing 20 minutes on the cross-trainer as if it is a religious edict. Surely we exercise to become better, faster, stronger, leaner… to become something else. To achieve results, you can’t keep doing the same old, same old – something has to change. Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone, and for a start get off the cross-trainer!

  Cross-trainer mistake #1: doing cardio before weights. It is common among gym-goers to use a cross-trainer before doing weights. I don’t know where this comes from but it really doesn’t make sense. To lift the maximum weight possible for the number of repetitions you have chosen, you need your full concentration. It doesn’t matter if it is six or 15 repetitions – you still need to be at your peak. Doing your cross-training before this will make you more tired, meaning less concentration and less strength. So, lift heavy first to become stronger and leaner (and no, women, you will not add bulk when you get stronger), and then if you insist on using the cross-trainer leave it to the end when you don’t need to concentrate.

  Cross-trainer mistake #2: not applying overload. To become better, you must apply overload. Cross-trainers are not great in this respect, as those who use them tend to sit at the same level for the same amount of time each week. At the very least, you must up the intensity level each week until you can improve no more, at which point you should change equipment – to what it doesnt matter, as long as it stresses you in new and different ways.

  Cross-trainer mistake #3: assuming that long periods of cardio exercise are good for fat loss. To become leaner you need to burn calories, and the best way to achieve this is through weight training due to the metabolism being raised for 48 – 72 hours after a weight session but only for 45 mins after a run. However, if you don’t have much experience lifting weights, then I would argue that you should do weight training via a circuit training plan. Long, continuous aerobic activity reduces muscle mass, so will not benefit you in the long run due to lowering your metabolic rate, as Doug McGuff and John Little state in their book Body by Science (2009): “Long continuous activity may improve your ability to perform that chosen activity, but because of its catabolic nature, it may not contribute to your health.”

  At Studio41 we do not have cross-trainers but our members average 3–6 kilograms of fat loss within two weeks of joining the gym. People train hard here, but there is no continuous cardio, just intense interval training that very few people can complete. And guess what? If someone is not getting results, we change the programme and their nutrition. It’s quite simple really.

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