NEVER do this!

Here I am, chasing Lucy all over the playground.

So yesterday morning I took my daughter Lucy to the park to go play. She's an adventurous little girl, loves climbing, slides, being chased by her dad acting as an angry pirate, all that fun stuff.

However, while I was there I noticed what appeared to be a personal trainer working with a client at the park. Being in the same field of course I paid attention to what he was doing and what his client was doing. And it made me think of the things I SEVERELY dislike about old school fitness techniques. I'm going to give you a quick run down of this awful event.

1. Super slow exercises using a very light resistance band. Want to burn fat? Build muscle. Not a ton of it. But you need to add some muscle. Why? It burns more calories at rest. And 80% of calories burned at rest come from fat. Want to build muscle? Use some heavy weights.
2. 2:00 rest periods between sets of crunches. Honestly when you're training for fat-loss, you need to chew through (pardon the pun) as many calories as possible in your workout. Why? To burn more calories you need to work harder, move faster and with shorter rest periods. And who's to say you need a dedicated "do-nothing" rest period? Use super-sets to get more from your rest periods. You only need to rest the muscle group you just worked. You don't need to rest your lungs! So do push-ups, then do squats THEN rest for :30. At that point its probably been a minute or so since you finished your push-ups.
3. Skip curls (and other isolation exercises). Doing slow curls while standing on a
   band is another waste of valuable time. Perhaps this lady I was watching has all the time in the world (it was about 9:30am, so maybe she does?) but most people I know don't. So they've got to make their workout count. Instead of isolating muscle groups choose exercises that use multiple muscle groups together. Pull-ups, for example, use biceps, upper back, glutes and abs - talk about bang for your buck!



Betcha she's not talking!


4. If you can converse during the workout (aside from rest) your not working hard enough. Plus, how difficult can the exercise be if you don't even have to focus on your form or mentally focus to push through those last few repetitions? Seriously, if you can chit-chat during an exercise, it's time to up the weight or choose another exercise.

On a side note, I read the other day that you have to be state licensed to be a barber. However, anybody can be a "personal trainer." I'm so embarrassed. 

Have a great Wednesday make sure you're doing everything you can to add some extra movement into your day!