What if you don't care about looking as if you could take on the Terminator? Maybe you just want to figure out how to make your sloppy areas a bit tighter, more toned and appealing. This article is for you.
Let me be frank with you, I get propositioned by lots of women.
Uhh, well, no, not for dates -- unfortunately. But rather, for advice on how to zap unsightly pooches, turkey-wattle triceps and Harley-worthy saddlebags. The propositions usually fall somewhere along the lines of, "what can I do to banish this rubbery flab - without going under the knife?"
First off, repeat after me: There is no such thing as spot training. There is no such thing as spot training. There is NO such thing as spot training! You know, spot training - that myth that's more persistent than a case of Equatorial jock itch, that says you can burn fat in a specific area by targeting it with a specific exercise.
Your body simply doesn't work that way. Fat cells shrink all over the body, if they are in fact, being worked hard enough to shrink. Oftentimes some areas, like the abdomen in men and the butt and thighs in women, act particularly stubborn and hang around long after other body parts have slimmed to sexy near-perfection. So while the As Seen on Boob Tube gadgets may be toning your stomach muscles and tightening the backs of your arms, you won't see the results until you start shedding blubber from all over your body.
So here's the (Three Easy Payments of) $99.95 Question: How DO you shed the blubber all over so that those special areas shine rather than embarrass? Aha, the answer is quite simple, though not easy to implement. At least not at first. The answer is, you must consume more calories than you take in, and you must maintain and improve muscle tone through high-intensity weight training.
Before you say "Duh," let me explain further why that's the case, and why so many people fall off the wagon when it comes to something so remedial. Ever see those people at the gym who spend seemingly their entire visit on the treadmill, walking and walking at the same pace, never getting anywhere? I will submit that the "treadmill" serves as an apt metaphor for their results in the gym, and maybe even in their lives. Always doing the same thing, without variation and without the curiosity to ask, is there anything else I can be doing in addition to, or in place of… THIS.
Albert Einstein said it best: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Fortunately, you don't have to be an Einstein to get great results. Others have figured out the complex formulas and algorithms for you.
The Answer lies in what the experts call Interval Training. That's merely gymgeek-speak for "training really hard in a sprint mode, briefly, then going back down to a saner, more sustainable rate for a longer period; then repeating." It works whether you're doing cardio or weight training, and I recommend you use it with both. It's a corollary of another principle you may have heard of, the Muscle Confusion Principle. Muscle Confusion says, in a nutshell, that you maintain muscle growth and keep improving by continually throwing new routines, techniques and stresses at your body during your training. Quite the opposite of telling you the MuscleFoundry Way is the best and only system you should use, I encourage you to try any and every technique that interests you. Try new methodologies, of course, after giving each successive one several months to get you results.
It's an arduous path - it will kick your ass if you do it right - but the workouts can be relatively short. It's also the quickest path between you and a powerful, sculpted body.
Interval training works because it optimizes the stress loading pattern on muscle. Leaving muscle little time to recover during a workout. The faster you wipe your muscles out in a training session, the sooner you get to go home and get on with the rest of your life.
Muscle, as you know, is developed by being overstressed, not by being babied (like on a slow-moving treadmill). Something like 90-percent of a normal person's calories are consumed to sustain muscle and provide power for its use. The rest of those calories go toward maintaining your autonomous body functions and going into storage, as fat.
So obviously the more muscle you can acquire, the more liberal you can afford to be with your eating. Though I do suggest maintaining a sensible eating routine most of the time.
Interval training - if you're not doing it yet, get on it. It will revolutionize your results, cut down drastically on your time in-gym and it can even be fun. Over time, you'll find a few interval training mini-routines pop up on this site, so check them out, and when you're looking for a slight change of pace, use your favorite search engine to find even more.
So ladies in particular, but also us guys looking to refine our physiques to the Next Level -- you've gotta be willing to work up a sweat here. And be willing to get down and dirty with the free weights and experience some pleasurable pain. It's pleasurable because when you feel that burn, you KNOW you're getting results. And finally, you've got to be willing to mix it up when the gains slow down and the current workout fails to feel exciting anymore.
Do these things - and eat sensibly - and your awesome results are guaranteed. You may not see them right away, and it may even seem as if nothing's happening. Trust me, I've been there. But stick with it, without cheating, for a couple months and just have faith that your results are on the way. Pretty soon you won't have to wonder.
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