With the birth of the internet, came along the thousands of internet experts in a vast sea of opinionated banter between the uneducated and the inexperienced. The internet warriors who argued about cardio vs lifting weights, then almost 80% of people felt they had take a stance about Crossfit and the thousands of endless debates between the H.I.I.Ts, the bodybuilder peeps the ‘functional trainers’ and, well, us – The Truth.
Training requires planning
It requires proper programming so that you fix your “problems” and improve. Whether you want to get leaner, stronger, improve your performance or just want to be plain badass. There is NO one magic piece of gym equipment in the gym. Not the barbell, not the kettlebell, and hell no, not the TRX.
These tools however do have its uses in programming. When these tools are used in a properly planned program, they do a lot of good. When hung on trees and poles once a week together with your bootcamp friends – They make a nice picture for facebook. True, some activity is better than no activity. What I am trying to say is, there is a better way to make use of your time.
At the PIT, we use a variety of tools. Clubbells, Kettlebells, Barbells, Dumbells, Rings, and yes, we have a TRX hanging somewhere at the PIT as well. They are what they are – tools. We do however run a barbell class because we feel it is a good way to build base strength. NOT that we think it’s the only way. Here are some other examples of truths that should be known.
All foods are not equal
Meats like chicken, fish, and beef are protein. There is no doubt. Grains, wheat, starches etc are considered carbohydrates. Having a big bucket of KFC is not considered a “protein fix” and stuffing your face with cake is not considered “carbload”. They would both be classified as #eatingcrap/#justifyingbeingapig
You don’t need to “go on a diet”
There is a plethora of diet plans out there. Some make you drink cabbage soup all day, some make you count your calories, some make you consume fat, some make you consume carbohydrates etc etc. But which one works? The answer is simple. The one that you can do for life. It’s all about sustainability. It’s all about what works best for you and your lifestyle.
Sure some sacrifices must me made. You can’t expect to have a better diet saying that your lifestyle requires you to drink every night with clients.
So no, you don’t have to go on a diet. You actually have to make a change in the way you look at foods and fix the way you eat.
To lose weight, you do not have to do long sessions of cardio.
Studies have demonstrated that after a weight training workout, your metabolism is boosted for up to 36 hours post-workout, meaning rather than burning say 60 calories an hour while you are resting, you’re burning 70. While you may think 10 extra calories is no big deal, multiply this by 36 hours and do the math. Then multiply this 10 again by 8760. And you will see how much calorie burning weight training does for you in a year.
The other thing you can do is “sprint” or do metabolic conditioning.
Excessive aerobic activity can decrease testosterone levels, increase cortisol production, weaken the immune system, handicap strength gains, and halt any hope of hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is important as it basically puts a bigger engine in your fat burning machine – It increases your metabolism.
We also do short explosive movements in our daily lives way more often then long sessions of endurance activities.
Besides, if you had the capability of running for long distances, chances are you aren’t that fat anyway.
Fat is NOT strong
Fat is fat. Fat is not strong. It’s like drinking milk versus drinking a can of condense milk to put on weight.
“National Powerlifter Derrick Kim deadlifts about 300kg and weighs below 73kg = Strong.
PITBull Harold and PITBull Nicholas Ang strict presses their bodyweight = Strong.
PITBull Feng squats more than twice her bodyweight for reps = Strong.
If you weigh about 150kg and deadlift 300kg = nothing to shout about.”
Strength is relative. At the PIT, we like to compare what you lift with how much you weigh. That’s the true calculation for strength. Not just the numbers. We had a guy come in squatting 80kg on his first day. But he himself admitted that he needed to work harder. Why? An 80kg squat is respectable for your first day no? Well, he weighed about 115kg.
Besides, being fat is going to give you a whole lot of health problems and in some cases affect your mobility when you train.
“If you can’t squat to depth, sometimes it’s because your belly is in the way. It might not be because of tight hip flexors or hamstrings.” – PITMaster Ving
So to sum things up, keep things real. Do the work and reap the rewards. There is no other way.
