MOVFitness

In the years of being a personal trainer, I’ve found just a few misconceptions that lead to poor health.  I want to address those issues in this article.

In time, I will write detailed articles on each of the issues, but for this article’s purpse - I will send you in the right direction so you may research on your own.

When working out, I too often see people doing slow, monotonous elliptical workouts.  In contrast, I see a group class with a military sargeant dictacting to twenty college girls to push harder and harder. 

Why is this bad? Well, look around you the next time at the gym.  Do you see any athletes in there?  Anyone with a nice ripped 6 pack on that elliptical beside you?  A girl with buns of steel in the cardio room?  Most likely not - and that’s no coincidence.

The real athletes are doing activities that will increase their EPOC.  In short, these are workouts that will cause your body to be sore, not merely raise your heart rate in the moment. 

HIIT Training is an excellent way to increase EPOC.  I like how HIIT is explained by James Collier in his article, “Packing on Quality Muscle”

“HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) can be carried out for shorter periods with hard sprints followed by periods of easy pace recovery sessions. This method of cardio allows for high EPOC (excessive post exercise oxygen consumption) to occur and more calories are burned when the exercise has finished as metabolism is raised for the rest of the day, compared to steady state training. The session typically lasts 12-15 minutes opposed to 35-45 minutes. This is fine but many of us who are less fit may not benefit as much due to higher levels of fitness being required.

Should we go for moderate pace, moderate time (35-45 minutes)? Efforts in the ‘target zone’ as Venuto shows, allow for more calories to be burned during the work out, as it doesn’t elevate the metabolism as high as HIIT training and therefore the NTOC (net total oxygen consumption) will not be as high in some cases due to lower EPOC. “

Weight Lifting is another great high EPOC workout when done correctly.  When done incorrectly, we focus on just a few small muscle groups and a low EPOC is the result.  This is why you won’t see MOVFitness recommending workouts that focus on secondary muscle groups.  When lifting, think of lifting from the core out:

TVA
Chest
Back
Glutes
Shoulders
Thighs
Biceps
Calves
Abs
Delts
Neck
Forearms

I’ve listed these in the most important order.  While your TVA doesn’t increase EPOC so much, it is your foundation.  Unless you are a body builder or extreme athlete, I don’t really see much use in working out any of the last 6 I mentioned.   You should stick to the top 6 and you’ll see much more benefit on your entire body.  Mix up your workouts to include these top 6 as the main priority.  Don’t waste your time elsewhere.

Ok, so now that you understand how to get a great EPOC workout, let’s talk about cross-training.  It amazes me how little people know about cross-training - and how those who do know choose not to do it!

Cross training is essential for longevity.  I see many runners who run run run for success.  That is going to lead nowhere but to the podiatrist.  I see so many businesses that thrive off this: Chiropractors, Podiatrists, Shoe Stores, etc.  It amazes me that people actually believe their knee pain can be fixed with a “custom-made” shoe or insert. 

After working with many professional athletes who are never injured even though putting their bodies through excruciating workouts, I can attest to cross-training being their foundation for injury-free lifestyles. 

If you love to run, that’s great - but you need to incorporate cross-lateral motion into your workouts, too.  At least 25% of your workouts should be one of the following:

Rollerblading
Rock Climbing
Racquetball
Tennis
Soccer
Plyometrics - cross lateral of course
Basketball
Rugby
Breaststroke Swimming
Hiking

Make sure to avoid the following as your “cross-training”: Running, cycling, swimming, elliptical, run outdoors, etc.  None of these activities provide proper balance to your muscles.  Now, if you are a rugby player, these provide great cross training.  If you are a rollerblader, then sure - go for a run.   But you need the contrast on your body to keep it in balance.  This has to do with balancing out your VMO - a common muscle that is weak in all endurance athletes & sadly even the general population.

I couldn’t find a superb article on the VMO, but here is some technical information for those of you wanting to prevent chronic knee pain. 

Lastly, let’s through in some nutrition tips.  Nothing earth shattering, but just simple advice that takes a minute to read.  How to lose fat quickly. 

It’s really simple, eat!  Humor me for a few weeks.  Eat every 150 minutes right on the dot and keep your sugars as low as humanly possible.  It’s incredible that we can subdue our sugar craving just by doing this.  Make sure that your food of choice is from my meal plan. 

We want to eat fat to lose fat, people.  Keep nuts on you at all times.  Toss some olive oil on that chicken when you cook it.  Eat granola for breakfast with tons of fat.  Up to 5g at every single meal of the day of healthy fat.  Incorporate protein shakes into your diet.  Did you know baby formula is made from protein mix?  So if it’s healthy for baby, it’s healthy for you.

 Ok, I hope this sets you on your way to better health!

Give me your questions and comments.

Good luck