Shamefully this is what the people I meet on a daily basis see. Yoga is the feel good stuff and exercising is for people who want to look like bodybuilders. May seem funny to some but this is seriously the feedback I get from lots of people from all over the world and all walks of life.
Even worse are the studies that place yoga against "conventional exercises" for hypertension and overall health improvements in the elderly. I simply can not believe people who study the science of exercise can not see the big picture here. They literally are in the middle of trees but can't see the friggin' forest.
There is not a difference between yoga and exercise. Yoga is a specific and generally dynamic form of exercise. Yoga is not just stretching and breathing. That is like saying gymnastics is just swinging and jumping. Gray Cook once brought up a good point about complex movement patterns creating an environment where the body stabilizes, balances, stretches, and contracts all during one exercise. Yoga is quite similar to this. I personally do not call myself a raving fan of yoga, but I know that yoga is just another form of exercise or movement patterns we should not attempt to segregate from other forms of exercise.
I just finished reading an interesting article in Time magazine. It was titled "The Myth About Exercise" (by John Cloud). The highlighted point was vigorous exercise does not always deplete weight. In fact, it contributes to adding weight. I did appreciate the good use of references to back up the authors certain points. From what I read, the article just proves people in general need to be more active.
Even though it is quite tough to stay unbiased when reading, I did my best to bite my lip and show the good points and flawed points of this article. To make this easier to read, I'll just list them with the authors points and mine.
1. Vigorous workouts can create a strong appetite after completion. A person is more likely to eat junk food (author mentioned examples of french fries and muffins) and have a higher caloric intake than expenditure.
I agree the appetite is usually increased. This goes along with the increase in metabolic rate, which is a really good thing. There is definitely a certain discipline needed after training to eat properly, but not much. I find most people will want to do the right thing after training.Also most fitness professionals know that the nutrition factor makes up 70% or more of the weight loss challenge for most non-athlete trainees. With proper nutrition protocols placed around training times this should not be a problem (at least not directly after training). From my experience those who eat diets higher in protein and fiber are able to satiate the need for grabbing crappola on a stick. Also, if a person is going to cheat then cheat after training. The body is more forgiving on sugar addiction around this window of time. The problem comes in when a person simply does a form of aerobics (such as jogging) that his or her body has already adapted to and then attempts to indulge. Not to bash on simplistic aerobics too much, but alone, aerobics has a very limited influence on the potential EPOC (excess-post exercise-oxygen-consumption). Point being the metabolism is really stimulated while doing the aerobic activity and not after.I definitely agree on the notion of being more active means having a higher temporary metabolism and subsequently appetite.
2. A person not going to a gym can lose close to the same amount of weight as someone in the gym for up to 194 minutes a week. This was a heavily flawed point. The studies referenced by the author were to vague to understand the training protocols the study group was exposed to. Also there is no information about the nutrition or lifestyles the study group had. Another flaw here is not knowing the body compositions of the group starting and finishing. Other than the flaws I would agree results will be all over the place for any average person for weight loss. The problem is a person depending on a gym training session as the magical answer to weight loss. That is simply absurd but it is the warped perception of some. The author, like others, sees the gym as a replacement for loss of activities in life. This is partially correct, but we still have primal bodily systems and the demands outweigh the desires. Doing crunches in the gym and running for thirty minutes to an hour is a small demand placed upon the body in comparison to what a person will do with the other twenty-three hours a day.
3. Self control diminishes as used. People can not stay in control. You know I think I heard this exact argument in a serial killers defense case. Discipline is a huge part of getting to a weight loss goal. Motivation is the next factor that needs to be stronger than deterrents. This goes along with the idea if you want "change" you need to "change" your lifestyle. People set themselves up for failure when they look to lose weight, but still want to party like it's 1999 every weekend or cook up big pasta dishes every night. There is a point of diminishing self control and motivation. When I worked in a commercial gym we used to take bets on what new member will fall victim to the "3 week this shit don't work" syndrome. Very evil but true. Change has to be embraced and a person has to be ready to do what it takes. If not it is inevitable the person will fail and I will win another ten bucks.
4. Total activities are more important than the gym to lose weight. NO SHIT! Now we are getting somewhere! I do agree. We are not the active mobile hunting survivors we once were. We are rush hour driving, computer typing, bad back griping, pill popping evolved humans. The body is still pretty primal. As stated before, it comes down to the demand placed upon the body. If we place demand to sit alot and browse the internet, well we get big ole' booties and sessions at the chiropractors office for kyphotic posture. If we take the time to stand up, walk around, hold good posture and enjoy whatever activities we want (biking, weightlifitng, kayaking etc.) ... 'Lo and Behold our body's begin to adapt to the imposed demand we put on them and we can actually look into a mirror after a shower and smile at the awesome active specimen staring back at us.
Wrapping this up, I can see the frustration this author feels from getting suckered into a 30 minute "ab attack" special deal from his gym. I can see the overwelhming frustration in many people who want to be picture perfect in "6 weeks or less", who think jogging around the block at tortoise speed and then buying organic and junk food from Whole Foods will make them Angelina Jolie thin, or who hire a trainer to handle the weight loss burden but refuse to change his or her lifestyle. This frustration has inspired articles like this Time magazine one. Here is my final point:
- There are no magic pills or perfect answers for weight loss. To lose weight make sure all factors are good to go (training, nutrition, recovery and being active).
- Body transformations can take sometime. As Berardi puts it 6 week goal is more like 52 week goal. There needs to be enough demand for weight loss and these things take time (short of liposuction).
- Consistency, frequency, motivation, and a decent life balance will reap greater rewards than mind numbing treadmill jogs and chocolate cookie dough ice cream with dark chocolate "super-antioxidant" sprinkles. Frustration is what it is. Frustration over genetics, fitness programs, and foods. We all get it at some point. If it were easy every guy would have a body like Terrell Owens and every gal one like Jessica Biel.
There is an infinite amount of exercises one is able to use when going to an everyday gym. Some believe more variety is best. Some believe a person should do what is necessary to succeed. Regardless of which school of thought is right or wrong they both should agree on what exercise equipment is just used to waste time and take up space. I have compiled a list to allow you to eliminate useless training equipment and either train with variety or train with restricted necessity.
1. Smith Machine:
This has to be the worst piece of equipment in the gym. Many trainers will make the best of this machine and use it to do other exercises besides squats and lunges. That is creative and great. However, if you are using this silly machine to squat, lunge, deadlift, row, or press you are asking for serious joint trouble down the road.
2. Hip Ab/Adductor Machine:
A friend once gave this the nickname “good girl-bad girl” machine. This machine supposedly will “tone” your inner and outer thighs. The only problem is “toning” is simply lowering bodyfat while maintaining muscle AND there is no such thing as “spot reduction” (i.e. if you twist a lot you won’t get nice abs). The machine puts “unnatural” pressure on muscles that are used to stabilize and neutralize movement. You want to strengthen these muscles jump, sprint, squat and lunge.
3. Torso Twist Machine: I rarely see this piece of crap in gyms anymore. This machine puts loads of unnecessary and unnatural pressure on the spine. Unless you want a nice herniated disc in your spine, don’t use it.
4. Swiss Ball Squats: This exercise does the same horrible job as a Smith machine, minus the machine. It creates extra tension on the knees and hinders a person from doing an actual squat. Instead you learn how to fall backwards.
5. Shoulder Press Machine:
The shoulders are the most mobile and vulnerable joints in the human body. When motion is restricted as with this machine you are not saving your joints, you are just causing more chance of injury. Keep away from this silly machine.
I can go on, but I won’t. This stuff gets my blood pressure high. Also there are other pieces of equipment to watch out for, but they are too debatable to be debunked. From this list you should be able to set some good boundaries for your next workout.
