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With your help, together we can do some serious damage (in a good way) for a great cause. I also want to thank of those who have already done this.

Misinformation Abounds

I just finished reading an article that made my blood boil. I tend to get emotional about these things so bare with me. After all, my little rant will hopefully benefit you. :-)

The aformentioned article was about a fat loss makeover and in a span of four paragraphs, a certified personal trainer managed to destroy all your hard work and bring your progress to a grinding halt so that you would up and quit because you're not making any progress.

This kind of thing happens all the time in the fitness industry and it drives me insane. No wonder so many people make little to no progress and finally give up. It's not because you aren't willing to work hard.

It's because the advice you follow is flawed. I'd give up too if I was pouring my blood, sweat and tears into something and not making any progress.

In those four short paragraphs, this trainer made three huge mistakes that will hurt your progress and keep you from your goals. I'm going to go through them and explain why they are wrong and what you should really do so that you achieve your goals.

Remember, nobody has your best interest at heart more than you do. Please, think about what you read. Dig beneath the surface. Question whether it really make sense or not. And question me as well. I don't have all the answers. I make mistakes as well. But I contintually learn, question, analyze and correct those mistakes so I can make better decisions in the future.

I could write a book just on these three little bits of so called advice but I'll try and stick to the main points so you can make use of this information in your next workout.

Here's the first piece of advice - "If your goal is losing weight, cardio is the most important thing you can do." Cover your ears, I think I may scream. People still shovel out this kind of advice?

Cardio is NOT most important when losing weight. Lifting weights is far more important to your long term fat loss success and to reshaping your body.

See the article Build Muscle, Burn Fat in the September 25th, 2003 issue of this newsletter for more info.

Look, an intense weight training session will burn as many calories as a typical cardio session. In addition, your metabolism stays revved up for about 39 hours AFTER you are finished with your workout. So you are still burning more calories for the next day or two without doing anything. Cardio does not provide this benefit.

In addition, muscle is metabolically active. In other words, for each pound of muscle you add to your body, it burns approximately 50 calories a day. So if you were to add 10 pounds of muscle, you would burn off about a pound of fat a week - without doing anything! Your metabolism is permanently elevated. This is the key to taking off fat and keeping it off. Cardio can not do this.

If you do cardio to lose weight without weight training, most of the weight you lose will be muscle. Two things happen here. One - your metabolism slows down! This is why so many people hit a wall and stop losing weight.

Their metabolism has slowed to a crawl, when they should be trying to increase it, which is what weight training does.

Secondly, you can't reshape your body by doing cardio. If you were a large pear shape before embarking on your cardio routine, you may have lost weight but all you are now is a smaller version of that same pear - what I refer to as 'skinny fat'. Now you're a smaller pear with less metabolically active muscle and a slower metabolism.

Guess what happens? You put the weight back on and now you are worse off than before because you have less muscle, more fat and a slower metabolism.

Yes, you can perform cardio to lose fat. However, a truly effective fat loss plan absolutely must include progressive resistance weight training if you want to lose the fat and keep it off permanently.

Bad Piece of Advice Number Two (in response to the makeover subject not wanting to bulk up) - Trainer's Response - "You'd have to work out hours and hours a day and eat about 5,000 more calories a day if you wanted to bulk up."

Has this trainer been in a cave for the last 50 years? This is absolutely horrendous advice. If you do want to get big, this is a guaranteed way to fail.

You will NOT get big on this program. You will lose muscle and get fat. The only people who would grow muscles on this advice are the top one tenth of one percent - ie, those with the genetics to be pro bodybuilders and even then, they'd have to shovel bucketfuls of anabolic drugs into their systems in order to grow on such bad advice.

As for those of you who truly don't want to bulk up, don't worry. If it were that easy, there wouldn't be a market for my book, The Skinny Guy's Guide To Building Mass. Yes, that was a shameless plug. I couldn't help myself. :-) But seriously, do you know any guys that feel they've gotten too big? I don't.

As for women, the same rules apply. You aren't going to develop huge muscles on a proper weight training program. You will reshape your body and look lean, sexy and toned.

Now, I know I have some female bodybuilders who read this and they are probably screaming at me right now so I'll try and go into a little more detail.

Yes, women can get big muscles. But 99.9% of them won't and those that do put effort into a program that most just wouldn't believe. It takes genetics, time and dedication that most just don't have.

Women, if you want to lose fat and develop a long, lean, firm body, please lift weights! For those that want to build lots of muscle and get big, you can do that to, if you have the plan, the genetics and the dedication.

But no one is going to get big on this horrendous advice.

Bad Advice Number Three - "When beginning a strength training program, the trainer suggests that clients use machines before they try free weights. 'Strength training machines are great because they force you to learn good form. They only allow you to do the correct motion.'"

Yep, you've guessed. I'm screaming again. Why? Because this guy is going to get somebody hurt. You should do just the opposite. Learn on free weights and then, if it's appropriate, use some machines. Personally, I prefer a mix. There are some machines that do things better, and free weights are better for a lot of exercises.

Why should you do free weight exercises as a beginner? Good question. You're learning. Here's the deal. First off, machines don't allow you to only do the correct motion, they allow you to do the machines motion. Those, more often than not, are not the same thing.

This fixed guided resistance can cause immediate or long term injury as it does not allow the body to perform the exercise in the anatomically or biomechanically correct position.

Straight up and down is not the natural groove for our bodies on most exericses, including shoulder or bench presses, even if it seems so at first glance.

Now don't get me wrong, there are some great machines, just not most of them and not for every exercise. Lat Pulldowns are fantastic machines but as you may have noticed they are also one of the machines that allows a freer range of motion.

Most bench press machines (not all) are a rotator cuff accident waiting to happen by forcing the body into an unnatural path.

Okay, let's say you have access to some high quality machines. Do I still think you're better off learning on free weights first? Yes, and here's why (I always try and give you the why and you should always want the why) - free weight exercises need to be learned.

Your muscles have to develop the nerve pathways to learn proper form, etc. I'm sure you've noticed this the first time you try an exercise. You may shake, one arm may clearly be dominant, etc.

So would you rather learn a free weight exercise when you are relatively weak and not using a lot of weight or later when you are handling much heavier poundages? Think about it.

RESOURCES: Check out these resources to help you start 2004 right. Fitness Resources

- Achieve Your Physique Goals

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For all you skinny guys, you might want to check out The Skinny Guy's Guide To Building Mass Fast at http://www.buildleanmuscle.com/gain.html

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Until next time

Yours In Fitness,

Gregg Gillies Click Here To Contact Me Via Email