Controversial or Fact?
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Published by Mark Hayward in Fitness ยท 13 July 2023
Diet is everything
Diet is 95% of how you look. At least. A personal trainer is there to help you with exercise and learn how to put a routine together and do the movements correctly. With a little diet advice thrown in- as a little is all they did on the course and are legally allowed to dispense as advice.
It's very rare to find a PT that doesn't "specialise" in weight loss (even the fat ones) and equally rare to find a client who seeks a trainer nor for fat loss reasons.
Looking at some PT's FB pages you'd think they were nutritionists not exercise specialists ! Just one workout a week with a PT will not make you lose weight. Three probably won't either (men react more to exercise).
So your first port of call to lose weight should be a group such as Slimming World, based purely on observation this is where the most success occurs.
Menopause and weight loss do not get on
Unless they are very fit and active (that doesn't mean walking the dog twice a day) menopausal women get very little room for diet slip ups and don't fare too well with carbs as a rule. But most of you reading this probably already know that from experience. But it is not impossible- the best results I have seen (aside from excessive exercise, which isn't neccessary or often practical) is to cut out strachy carbs and do some resitance exercise to create muscle tone and boost metabolism. The weight will come off slowly but surely!
Veganism is good but..
Do it properly and be healthy. Hire a reputable medical nutritionist and do it for the animals and environment not as a semi-religious badge of honor. Its very worthwhile when done correctly and we all need to move towards more plant based diets, for the environment and animal welfare. There are no proven studies that show any significant (non - biased) health benefits to a vegan diet (if you find one with all variables taken into account then one show me. Gin is vegan for gods sake!)
Controversial opinion- most vegans seem to be young women with tremendous psychological problems (see bodybuilders too but usually male) and often borderline eating disorder territory, if not already there. Or older people who are very comfortably off and have lots of spare time and can fund this now quite expensive way to eat (quality is very important otherwise you will get ill)
The latter group are nearly always over weight to some degree as (see point 2 above) their diets are neatly pure carbohydrates.
PT courses
It's virtually impossible to fail a PT course, you would have to actually not turn up to fo do so. It is NOT some sort of hard studied for university degree. It takes a few weeks and us primarily for those who's parents can afford the 2K for the course after their child had not done outstandingly at school and was drifting between jobs and has been spending a lot of time at the gym.
99.9 % of "knowledge" is learnt before or after the course, usually from the Internet and is often unnecessary or simply untrue. The exams are usually multiple choice and you can have as many goes as you want to pass. Yes really.
Same goes for Pilates. I was part of the classes for the others on my course, to make up the numbers, and really none of them should have passed going by thr judging criteria. They be great teachers now with more experience. Most fitness "qialifications" are just neded for insurance reasons.
Be a tortoise
Weight loss is slow, really slow. Scales don't matter much weekly. Weird stuff happens - gaining 5 lb in a day, stuff appears that is not fat or water after a big meal.
Weighing in every day is fine but don't take what the scales say to heart. You can lose fat and puton 2lbs in a week, you can lose fat and stay the same weight, with no muscle gain taking place.
Weird stuff happens with weight loss. I've lost an inch from my waist while staying the same weight and no muscle gain. Patience and consistency is the key.
Muscle potential Is low, very low
From my experience most muscle gain happens in just 6 months (80%) with a sensible training programme. The other 20% may take 5 years but it will require a lot of sacrifice and dedication.
20 lbs, maybe 30lbs at a push (drug free for life) is the most 95% can expect to gain in a lifetime (if they are lucky) women significantly lower. Most who think they have gained more were either very underweight to begin with or significantly undresstimating the amount of fat they are carrying ( just about every guy in the gym )
The people with huge muscular physiques neatly all take drugs to get there, often their knowledge of exercise and diet is average at best. The are a few genetic freaks too, but that isn't me and probably not you either. Most of them work as PT's too !
20lbs is enough to make a significant difference and actually a huge amount of size, and the good news is the potential for strength increases is phenomenal! Most can get 3 or more times as strong as they are now. With the right training programme of course- just keep things simple and add weight and reps as the years go by.
BMI is good
Well more useful than it is given credit for anyway. If you have a BMI of 30 + then you are either- fat and and in denial or taking drugs to build muscle. There are quite a few outliers, but most criticism seems to come from those with excess adipose tissue.
Let go !
Walking on the Treadmill while holding on is a waste of time (basic laws of physics)
Running is great but only if...
Running is not bad for your knees, running without the required mobility and detail to technique is (99% of runners)
Grass runnimg will not help long term, it is more difficult and you risk an ankle sprain on the uneven surface.
Same goes for foot supports and expensive running trainers. Your ancestors ran barefoot for miles, modern shoes are terribly bad for the feet with the rigidity and compressed toe box. Walk around at home with barefeet.
Lastly..
And don't believe everything you read, keep an open mind! We are all biased and out opinions are influenced by what we want to be true. I am happy to disproved on any of the points above.
PART TWO coming soon