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This blog may seem to harsh for some people and not as per everybody’s taste. If you think you are too knowledgeable to learn anything in fitness science, plz avoid reading this particular blog.
Have you heard the name of the famous novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’? Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 romantic novel by Jane Austen. It charts the emotional development of the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential.
But how does it relate to fitness science? Believe me or not, there is a real relationship. Let us discuss it with examples and explanations format…
Well, walking is a good habit and beneficial for heart health. We all know that. But watch out those fat middle aged and old people in the park trudging along for a ‘morning walk’. They stay the same or sometimes lose a bit weight (not by walking but by calorie restricted diet). Is walking an exercise in strict sense? Please remember, slow walking is just an activity and not an exercise. Anything that does not challenge you out of your comfort zone is not an exercise. But yes, for sedentary elderly guys, brisk walking revving up the heart rate can be an ‘exercise’. But that is destined to hit plateau soon. Enjoy your walk for a host of benefits, it’s much better than sitting on desk for the whole day. But don’t expect 6 packs from pot belly by walking! There are much better ways to do that.
India is a country where yoga originated and we have a yoga day to celebrate with current Prime Minister of the nation leading the way. Yes, yoga has a host of benefits starting from relaxation, mental well being, muscle stretching, improved balance, mobility, joint health and stability and a bit of calorie burn too! But as a good choice for weight loss? No way, you need to burn lots of calories fast and accelerate your metabolism. HIIT (High intensity interval training) and weight training (big compound movements with progressive overloading) are miles ahead as weight loss exercise options. They can hugely boost metabolism and burn calories during and after workout. Even low intensity long cardio (jogging, cycling, skipping etc) can burn much more calories. But still, I find lots of experts advising ‘morning walk’ for weight loss.
There is no one-stop solution for all. Simply a big guy doing a wrong exercise does not mean that a newbie should follow it. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the movie “pumping iron” had some scenes doing some workouts in his own style. But I dare say doing those heavy upright rows and stooping seated row are not recommended now a days. Abduction with internal rotation of shoulders is not a good movement with heavy load and close grip. Similarly, seated rows with upright posture and chest out are the correct form for that rhomboides, middle traps, lats etc. Simply copying the ‘Guru of bodybuilding’ is not advisable for a newbie or an unfit person. Try to reach that level first. Whatever you do will be legendary! As our professors in medical college: “Learn the correct steps of palpation of liver and spleen. If you can’t, you will fail in Final MBBS. But after you pass, you can palpate liver and spleen as per your wish. That’s your practice and customize it as per your needs”. Just aping a big shot will not do any good.
Well, getting huge muscles doesn’t equate to huge knowledge and brain. Several guys with good genetics, persistent and dedicated weight training and some drugs can present awesome body. Messi or Ronaldo can be an amazing choice for your football team. But for coaching and to excel in football, you need to hire their coaches and not them. Broscience is everywhere. That big ‘dada’ of gym may have 20 inch biceps and will train you to do ‘concentration curls, the secret of his big guns’! But do you know, he is doing 30+ chin-ups and also many with weights and narrow grip? He can do 100 kg + bench press and had been doing it for years to get those huge pecs. Do you know, he has been in high protein diet and doing curls and other pulling movements for more than a decade? Do you know the story of him being juiced up before a contest few years ago? Do you know he is blessed with some amazing genetics? That big guy could still have built those big biceps even without doing a single concentration curl in his life!
Exercise form is important, there is no denying of that fact. You can’t make the basic mistakes. But being too stubborn can hurt your progress. Moreover, it varies with anatomical structures and functionality of the person. For example, a person with poor shoulder mobility or very long forearms may find it difficult to touch chest during negative phase of bench press. With higher loading, it may hurt and hamper progress altogether. Should the coach be stubborn on the rule? No, he/she must find the optimum range of motion. Maybe stopping half an inch short can help him load it without pain and progress. The coach should consider the body structure/function and make adjustments. Just being stubborn on the rule of bench press, ‘the bar must touch the chest’ won’t help anybody.
The internet, YouTube and social media have made every gym-goer an expert. People miss the forest for the tree. You do not need to be perfect for general fitness or even to build muscles / lose fat. You just need to choose a correct regimen and routine, learn the importance of volume and intensity of training, learn about time under tension and value of eccentric, understand the basic movements and forms, learn the magic of progressive overload, AND BE PERSISTENT WITH YOUR EXERCISE. The last line is the most important one! Believe it or not, every single research points out at the benefits of working out for whole life. But how many people, around you, do you know doing exercise for decades? Skip being too obsessed with your foot position in the leg press. Ask a technically sound coach to make your adjustments as per your anatomy and requirements. But you need to do that leg press for several years. You can vary with squats, leg extensions etc., but you have to work your legs for ages. If you ask me how long, the answer is : for life, to be honest. To get true results from exercises, it has to be a lifestyle, a habit like brushing your teeth or combing your hair.
Not at all. For your goals, be it weight loss, muscle gain or maintaining fitness diet is a cardinal part. You can never out exercise a bad diet. Celebrate with a few ‘rasogollas’ or ‘laddu’, you get in more than 500 junk calories and insulin shooting through the roof. Most people can’t do enough cardio to burn that. Also, that high insulin shuts down the metabolic pathway of fat burning. That is why you see the bodybuilders, in their off-seasons, get huge with tones of fat (including visceral fat, which is dangerous for health). That is exactly the same reasons why so many gyms find lots of unsatisfied customers. Even trainers with poor knowledge in fitness nutrition science recommend some vague, directionless diets. Learn the correct nutrition from a dietitian /nutritionist who understands nutrition science well. Always take expert help for the same. Check https://fitnet.in for any such support.
So there you go. From fitness professionals and clients, the pride and prejudice cannot be denied. We need to find the right balance between what we love to do and what is scientifically correct. We are all students in the learning curve. Remember that science itself, in every aspect of life, is vast. Learning and unlearning is just a part of the game.
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