By: Joel Luedke
Right or wrong it appears to be the trend that you need something 'new' and shocking in order to make a change in your life (or sell someone a change). A specific point of view has to be exactly that, specific. Whether that comes to what you need to eat or avoid eating in order to lose weight, the specific type of exercises you need to complete in order to get the body you want, according to many there is only ONE way.
It seems a 'jack-of-all-trades' mentality has been pushed back along with having to take everything in context to the relative situation we may find ourselves in. This discussion is to touch base on some of the more common things we see when it comes people potentially taking things to an extreme on either end of the spectrum and where that can get you in trouble.
Gatorade as "Health" Drink
Is Gatorade the best sports drink for you? We could have that argument. Is it the worst thing ever for you? We can also have that argument. After attending a conference that was around Gatorade and everything they present to the industry it got me thinking and wondering what really is "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" of Gatorade.
Gatorade has a very specific purpose (the sports drink) and that is for rehydrating during long workouts and especially in hot temperatures. That is where the electrolytes and carbs/sugar come into benefit.
It is not nearly as good for you when you start consuming it on a daily basis as something to sip on and why it is not a 'health' drink. This distinction is important but can be lost in the context of marketing and ads. Use it how it is directed.
Lifting Weights and Getting "Bulky"
This misconception is all too common. There are a large amount of factors that contribute to if you are going to add muscle mass and 'get bulky' when it comes to lifting. Just picking up the weights and lifting for a week isn't really one of them.
In order to get a significant amount of hypertrophy (muscle growth) you will need to have a significant stimulus and that will lead to a lot of hard work in the gym and often times heavier weights than you think. Get a solid lift in 3x/week but keeping the weights out of the 75-82%-ish range for 8-12 reps will lead to a great workout but often not a lot of hypertrophy. It's all on what your goals are.
You have to EAT and a lot. Even in athletes we work with that want to get bigger we find that they are constantly under eating (Video: How to Eat Like an Athlete) and that leads to less gains then they like. It takes a tremendous amount of fuel to get anabolic and get muscle to grow. If you're not in that range of calorie consumption you can most likely rest at ease that you are still getting benefits without the adding bulk.
Cardio and Losing Weight/Fat
We will never shame anyone for wanting to do cardio if that is your preferred mode of exercise. You do you and keep on going. We do caution though that long slow cardio might not be the most optimal way to lose weight/fat. While yes you can burn calories and that can help your metabolic rate, there are more efficient ways to trip down.
Implementing HIIT (high intensity interval training) on your favorite cardio machine has been shown to have great results when it comes to this area in just a fraction of the time. Try going for a short burst of time on followed by a little longer off (ex. 10/20 on/off) and extend or shorten either time as necessary for what you can handle.
Weight lifting is also an area that could really benefit that attainment of your fat/weight loss goal. Muscle is your most metabolically tissue and the more you have, the more you can burn. See some ideas in the weightlifting section above.
We wanted to not get too lengthy with this post but if you have other ones we'd love to hear them and have a great discussion.
At the end of the day it is finding that 'happy medium' that gets you the results you are looking for and how your body best responds. For as identical as we are via DNA the way our bodies respond to different stimuli is wide ranging. We need to look how to fit what we are doing to the person and what they are wanting to accomplish and not always trying to force the person to fit the mold of what we have set up.
At the end of the day it is finding that 'happy medium' that gets you the results you are looking for and how your body best responds. For as identical as we are via DNA the way our bodies respond to different stimuli is wide ranging. We need to look how to fit what we are doing to the person and what they are wanting to accomplish and not always trying to force the person to fit the mold of what we have set up.
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