Let’s say that you’ve been inactive and you’ve decided to ease in to some sort of exercise only two days a week..

Now..

Would you choose to spend these two sessions performing cardio like running on the treadmill??

Or would you do some sort or strength training with higher reps??

Alwyn Cosgrove has a good article titled Strength or Cardio? where he insists that if you had to choose one, do the strength FIRST–meaning if you only have two days do strength, and then add cardio later if you choose to work out more frequently.

His point is that if you want to lose weight, you have to burn Calories and elevate your metabolism. And the easiest way to do that is through strength training.

He says that the best way to initially burn Calories is to make your muscles active–and the best way to elevate your metabolism is to gain MORE muscle, which will require you to burn even more Calories.

A simple concept, but it won’t do any good unless you apply it. So go do some lifting!!!

Technorati Tags: cardio, fat loss, metabolism, strength training

Question:

I am professional dancer and I have recently change my eating and exercising habits and dropped 20 lbs. I do 40 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning 5 days a week and I do the ab wheel every night and some push ups pull ups and dips 3x a week. I still have a little bit of fat around my lower abdominal area. I know diet is 80% of the battle and I eat fruits and vegetables everyday along with lean protein and a little bit of carbs. Are there any little tricks I can do to lose the last little bit of fat? Otherwise I am quite happy with my body… Thanks Doug!

Congrats on your weight loss and getting a body you’re happy with. And props for addressing the major issues like exercise and nutrition and for realizing their importance before worrying yourself with the smaller details.

Here is what I noticed you’re doing right:

• Nutrition–eating lean protein, fruits, and vegetables every day-keeping carbs to a minimum.
• Exercise
  • Frequency- This is how many times per week you exercise. I haven’t stressed this very much on this blog, but frequency is crucial. You’ve built a lifestyle that incorporates exercise so you can get your work in 5+ days a week–way to go!
  • Strength Training- You’re doing 3 days/week of some sort of strength work with your dips, pushups, and pull-ups.
  • Cardio- You’re also incorporating cardio 5 days per week (though I recommend interval training).
  • Core-Training-Keep it up with the pushups and ab wheel exercises.
• Mindset–You realize the importance of nutrition and consistent exercise, are not looking for shortcuts, and you’re obviously willing to put in the necessary work.

That being said, there is one thing I noticed from what you told me about your program that jumped out at me.

Where’s the lower body strength training?!!!!!

Ya know, for your ass and legs—You missed a few BIG muscles here.

Remember, you want to build muscle so that your body burns fat more efficiently. And believe me-if you’re not yet incorporating resistance training with your lower body, you still have a lot of room to grow.

I know you’re doing cardio (and a lot of it), but you’d be better off replacing 20 minutes of cardio with some squat, deadlift, and lunge variations on your three strength training days. This will allow you to keep the ball rolling with your results.

This will ensure that every part of your body will be constantly in a state of building new muscle and burning Calories, (which is what you want in order to lose that last bit of fat.)

So go do some squats and let me know how it goes!!!

Technorati Tags: ab roller, abs, calories, cardio, Core Training, fat loss, lower-body-training, meal frequency, Nutrition, Program Design, strength training, weight loss

What are the best ways to get them [my abs and thighs] in shape pretty quickly but without taking over 15 minutes a day? And I’m 5′4; 125lbs and was considering getting my belly button pierced, opinions?

It is definitely possible for you to do something 15 minutes a day and see results– as long as your session is of a high intensity (meaning hard)!

You should stick to two basic types of training:

1. Total Body weight training.

These exercises consist of compound movements-these are movements that involve multiple muscle groups:

Think squats, lunges, deadlifts (picking stuff up off the floor), bench presses, rows, chin ups (assisted), and you can’t go wrong. If you lack fancy equipment or the time to head to the gym, you can perform movements that simply use your bodyweight–squats, lunges, pushups, and planks can be done anywhere-put all these exercises back to back in a circuit and should be breathing hard..

2. Interval Training (high intensity)

Rather than doing long, slow, boring cardio for 60 minutes (who has the time?? not you!), you should use high intensity interval training.

For example, on a treadmill, you could go for a minute and a half at a moderate pace like a slow jog or walk (say 3.5 mph–this is your “rest pace”). Followed by 20 seconds of an all out or close to all out sprinting (Say 10 mph–this is your work pace). After the 20 seconds, go back to your rest pace. Doing this for 7 intervals (an interval includes the work and rest period) would take about 15 minutes.

Note: I picked the speeds above as an example, but feel free to adjust your intervals to your fitness level. Your work interval should be strenuous enough so that you couldn’t go much longer than the designated time.

You can apply this principle to other things like the Elliptical, Stair Climber, Rowing machine, running outside, etc. As long as you have a rest phase and a work phase.

Just make sure that during your 20 second phase, you’re busting your butt! I’m talking, when you get to the end of the interval, you should be absolutely spent–use the rest phase to recover so you can do it again.

Feel free to play with the times if you want to change it up-a 20 second (more advanced) work phase is going to be more intense than a 40 second work phase.

Time to get to work!!

These above two types of training are meant to be hard, as they squeeze a lot of work into a short time period–the other goods news is that every new study that comes out has shown this type of training to be MORE effective than traditional cardio in that it breaks down muscle and stimulates EPOC, which speeds up your metabolism even after your workout!

Simply put, your body will keep burning more Calories throughout the day, and your metabolism will increase–meaning more fat burning–meaning abs that show.

And if you’re serious about getting this handled you should go read - The Truth About Six Pack Abs - A very popular e-book and from what I’ve heard, it flat out works.

P.S. I’m a sucker for the belly button piercings so I’m more than glad to help–HOT!

Technorati Tags: abs, EPOC, exercise selection, fat loss, interval training, Program Design, strength training, time-management, total-body-training

I’ve heard that lifting weights helps you burn more calories if you lift weights before cardio and would like some insight on this.

Answer:

This is a good question, and there is not really a definite answer either way–it depends on your preference.

But, I will give you an answer anyway.

It doesn’t make sense that doing one before the other will burn more Calories, assuming you’re doing the same amount of work.

However, this doesn’t mean that your order doesn’t matter..

It’s true that you’ll see the greatest improvement in the activities you perform first in the session and the least in the activities you perform last.

Now judging by your question, it sounds like your primary goal is fat loss. Your other goals are likely to increase your strength and improve your cardiovascular fitness.

So..

Pick which one is more important to you (getting a stronger body or a stronger heart) and perform that one first.

Yes, that’s the answer–not really rocket science, huh?

It just makes sense that the first activity you perform will be when you’re fresh and will be able to give 100%–thus you’ll see the most improvements.

If you wanted to take this principle a little bit further…

You can break it down to individual strength exercises–putting the area you want to improve most first or toward the beginning of the program.

Also, if you’re doing a split routine, put the body parts you want to improve most at the beginning of your training week. So if you wanted to improve leg strength, do legs on Monday rather than Friday.

If you REALLY can’t decide which is more important to you, aerobic capacity or strength, don’t be afraid to experiment.

Try doing your cardio first one day–then switch it around on the next day. See which one you LIKE better.

Simple huh?

You never know–you may like both and decide to switch it up regularly to keep your program from getting boring. Aren’t options great?

Ultimately, the most important thing if you’re relatively new to exercise is trying to pick an order you can enjoy and will keep you coming back to the gym–but if you’re looking for an objective reason for picking one order over another, just do the one you want to improve the most first.

I hope this helps!

And be sure to check out the audio below.

Technorati Tags: calories, cardio, exercise order, Performance, Program Design, strength training

One thing I noticed in the gym that is very common is poor rowing form.

While you should definitely have some rowing variations in your program, if not done properly you either won’t make progress, will get injured, or both–not to mention look silly.

What I see is a lot of jerking and rotation about the trunk–rocking instead of rowing. Yes, if you’re doing an aerobic workout on a real rowing machine where the seat glides along with you, it is ok–but not on seated cable rows, chest supported rows, or any other similar exercise–including pull downs.

Rowing is a back exercise–movement should come from retraction of the scapula with your arms acting only to connect your back to your hands. Your spine and core are there to stabilize you while you row–they should not move.

Things to think about when rowing:

1. Back flat–think of how your back would be aligned if you were sitting in a chair with perfect posture. Get a friend or trainer to confirm you’re on the right track here.

2. Chest out–like you’re showing off your pecs. Elevate the chest and ribcage (almost like you’re showing someone that you’re super-confident). The opposite would be rounding your shoulders, which would turn the exercise into an arm curl.

3. Don’t Rock–Again, movement is coming only through retraction of your scapula. This means that you’re moving the weight by pulling back and down and your scapulae are moving toward the middle of your back. If your head is moving at all, you’re doing it wrong.

4. Control the weight on the return–When lowering the weight, (also known as the eccentric phase) you should be steadily easing the weight down. You don’t have to lower it super slow, but make sure that you are controlling the weight; not visa versa.

If you’re consistently having trouble with 3 and/or 4 above, you’re using too much weight. Back down on the amount of weight until you can perform several reps with perfect form–then slowly up the weight as you get better.

Seated cable rows, one armed rows, T-bar rows, and corner rows all follow the exact same guidelines.

So happy rowing!

-DG

Technorati Tags: back, exercise-form, rowing, strength training